Tron: The Revolution Begins -- Book 3: Beginning of the End
by Panda Bear Lover 317
Summary: The infiltration of Tron City has been going very slow...and boring, but efficient. But what doesn't help is the mysterious disappearances of random Programs in the area - nor is it any better when the Son of Flynn is thrown into the mix...
1. Terrible Midpoint

**Greetings, Programs! :) Yes, I know, it's been a while. Happy Tron Tuesday, everyone!**

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**Chapter 1 – Terrible Midpoint**

Ally's POV

"Come on! This way!" She whisper-shouted behind her at Beck. They skidded around a corner as quickly as physics would allow and ran headlong down a random alley into the dark.

Ally and Beck panted as they ducked through a doorway that some fool left open and crouched in the dark, trying to catch their breath that they gradually lost as they tried to escape the soldiers.

Beck chuckled the slightest bit as he started to relax a little. "I *pant* thought some of the *pant* guards in Argon *pant* were tough…"

Ally's lips pulled into an open smile and she rolled her eyes. "Proves how much you know…" She teased. "They were a lot tougher in the war. We all seemed to have lost our touch."

Beck opened his mouth to respond to her opinion but the words died in his throat when several voices echoed.

"They couldn't have gone far. Strays always get confused." One of the guards stated matter-of-factly.

Ally and Beck locked eyes with each other briefly before rolling them. Ally was itching to say something smart about that typical comment but Beck seemed to sense it and shot her a look.

She settled with pursing her lips and remaining quiet. She could always smart-mouth people later.

"Try out that alleyway, see if anyone's there. I'll check down here." They heard the loud clomping sound of heavy boots trudging through the dark narrow street; close to where the two of them were hiding.

Ally lightly placed her hand on one of the batons she had and glanced at Beck's lightstaff that was attached to his belt along with several other weapons they'd gotten from their 'noisemaking' group that raided a secret warehouse full of the stuff.

The moment the guard was less than 2 meters away, the duo pounced at him from the dark and whacked the back of his helmet with enough force to break it and knock him out. Their scuffle attracted the attention of the guard's comrade and he stupidly entered the alley as well.

They backed away and cloaked themselves in darkness before they could be seen with the unconscious Program. When the second one was close enough, they did the exact same thing to him, brutally knocking him out.

Ally pulled out a small device from her pocket – a new gadget Google made for the team – and scanned a small light over both of the guards. There was bright orange code glowing from their internal structure that flowed inside them like water, unlike the white or blue – which was supposed to be normal – underneath they'd hoped to see.

The corners of Ally's mouth pinched into a frown – almost a grimace as she looked up at Beck. "More." She said dully.

Beck sighed. "This is starting to grow tiresome." He mumbled as they both slapped cuffs onto their wrists and started to drag them out of the alley.

"But of course Clu would only want to have repurposed guards doing their duties in his home City, much more around him. He doesn't exactly trust free will. Liz made sure to prove that."

Beck laughed tiredly as they neared their small base – a regular apartment that had a basement with a series of secret tunnels they made themselves, hidden behind secret doors.

Ally looked around to make sure they weren't seen as Beck unlocked the door and helped her drag the unconscious bodies inside. She struggled to get one of them onto their feet as she hauled him downstairs into the basement behind Beck.

They found Liz lounging in a little chair, asleep with a content smile on her sassy face. She heard Beck's exasperated sigh as he let the guard's body drop into her lap and let the rest happen.

Liz's eyes shot wide open faster than the speed of light and her comfy chair tilted backwards as she jumped out with her disk in hand.

She momentarily glanced at the guard sprawled on the floor that was once draped across her and frowned. Then she looked up and narrowed her eyes at Beck, who raise both his hands to play innocence.

"Hey, don't blame me; I wasn't sleeping on the job."

Ally smirked as she dumped her prisoner into his own chair before crossing the room towards a small portrait of Clu. The picture disgusted everyone in the apartment but it made a nice cover for the safe behind.

She put in the combination of numbers and opened the small door to find both her and Beck's disks safe and sound inside. Ally grabbed hers and locked it into place on her back, then tossing Beck his.

Liz fixed her gaze on both of the guards with an unpleasant expression. "More repurposed guards?" She asked in a monotone voice.

Ally rolled her eyes in a way to say 'duh' and proceeded to pick up her Program from the chair. "Come on, Beck." She said as she headed towards a bare wall. "Let's get this over with before these guys wake up. Remember what happened last time…"

"Don't even remind me." Beck said as he hauled the other guard back onto his limp feet. "He nearly escaped."

Liz walked over to a desk and pressed a button on the underside. The wall slid back to reveal the secret tunnels lit up brightly from the floor that branched out in a small maze. The labyrinth wasn't that big, just little hallways leading to different rooms.

Ally strode down one of the paths with confidence – and struggle – in her step until she reached out a hand to press a button on a door panel to a room. The door slid open and she, followed by Beck, stepped into a small room that looked a lot like a repurposing unit.

Beck sighed as he deposited a guard into one of the tube-like structures. "Gosh, sometimes I wonder what kind of trouble Ace and the others went through just to get their hands on this thing."

Ally attempted to shrug as she kept supporting to extra (and heavy) weight of the male Program. Beck crossed the room towards a small panel and pressed a few buttons to activate the machine.

**Preparing for code extraction, please do not interrupt the procedure.**

She watched like she had a million times as the stolen repurposing machine extracted the repurposing code that didn't truly belong to the soldier. Beck pressed a few more buttons to activate the cleansing procedure.

No one really knew much about the repurposing process – other than Beck with his knowledge of what Tron told him once – until Google managed to hack into some of Clu's confidential files and studied them.

After managing to get ahold of a repurposing tank-thing, Google was able to help them come up with a simple way to extract all repurposed code, tear out whatever coding that didn't truly belong to the Program, cleanse the rest of the code to its original form, and then put it back in.

It later became a priority, and a regular basis to catch any Program that was repurposed and restore them to their primary format.

Ally saw the machine put the Program's coding back into him and slowly smiled as his circuitry slowly but gradually turned from orange to white and purple.

**Cleansing process complete. Have a pleasant cycle.**

The Program was still unconscious as Beck got him out and helped Ally put hers into the machine. The guard started to stir as he was brought closer to the large device and before either Program could fully process it, he was completely conscious again.

He immediately started to struggle when he caught sight of both Programs' costumes and realized who they were. "Ah! No, let me go! You can't do this!"

Ally pinched the spot between his neck and shoulder and he slumped over again.

Beck sighed in relief when they succeeded in putting him into the repurposing chamber and going through the exact same process with him.

When they were finished, Ally once again struggled to haul the Program behind Beck out of the room, the secret passages, and into the basement.

And of course, Liz was lounging in her chair again. Ally looked at her friend crossly. "Get off," she said bluntly. Liz rolled her eyes and stood up from the chair to close the wall/door.

Beck and Ally deposited both unconscious Programs into both of the chairs and waited for both to regain awareness. Beck's Program woke up first, disoriented and confused, bombarding everyone with questions regarding his strange memories related to Clu.

Liz, surprisingly, managed to get him to settle down and wait 'till the other one woke up so they didn't have to repeat what they say a second time.

Several Micros passed with Ally probing his side, head, and other various parts of his body before he woke up again. He flinched at his sudden surroundings and did the exact same thing the other Program had.

It took another good 10 MicroCycles to explain what repurposing was, theorize why Clu had it done to them in particular, and recommend that the Programs go about their lives like they had before they'd been forcefully involved with Clu's army.

The Program Beck had brought here nodded slowly and thanked him for helping out. But the other one – the one Ally knocked out – was determined to help out any way he could and even offered to help out by pretending to be one of Clu's soldiers, as he claimed to have vivid memories of his loyalty towards the tyrant.

Glancing at each other, the trio of rebels agreed hesitantly and asked what they needed of him. Ally helped him change his circuits back to their previous orange color before she and Beck blindfolded the Programs as precaution to keep their location hidden, brought them to a secluded area in the City, spun them in circles a few times before ditching them.

Ally pumped her arms and looked at Beck, who was ahead of her. "Do we have time to nab others?"

Beck shook his head. "No, it's almost curfew. And even if we were, it'd be against new regulations. We were supposed to leave our disks behind at the lair in case we got caught."

Ally slowly nodded. "Fine, you know what, that's okay. We'll just head home and have a boring time 'till the end of curfew. You know, that's cool." She said, pretending to sound okay with it.

Beck sighed. "We don't have time to go out before curfew. Besides, you heard the others. We can't take risks right now; maybe later, but now is a crucial time." They reached the apartment building and bustled inside before locking the door behind them. "We just gotta lay low until it's time to make our real move."

"Until when?" Ally asked. "This plan we came up with HiloCycles ago is taking much longer than anticipated. We've met with hundreds of groups of rebellious Citizens and shared their part in our scheme but now we must have at least a couple thousand more Programs supporting us."

Beck shrugged. "More isn't always a bad thing."

"But I don't know what we're waiting for!" Ally said impatiently. "Everything is set up according to plan. Paige and Sky managed to convince Gallium to pack up and join us, we have our "noisemakers" already doing their part in the other Cities, including this one, but **we're** not doing anything!"

Beck frowned. "True, we may have been one of the Programs to start all of this, but remember, this fight isn't about us. It's about the Citizens on the Grid. We're doing this for them. We just have to trust Google, and everyone else's judgment and not make any rash decisions." He settled a hand on her shoulder. "We'll wait a while longer, okay?"

Ally slowly nodded. "Fine." She eyes settled on the lightsword clipped onto Beck's belt. She smirked. "You wanna spar for a bit?" She leaned closer. "Just until curfew's done? I feel like I'll die of boredom before this Revolution is over."

Beck mocked a scared and disappointed frown. "Well we wouldn't want you to pass away before all of this is done!" He grinned. "Okay, I could learn a few more tricks with a lightsword." He grabbed the baton. "I'm still not used to this thing yet."

…

Zoe's POV

She paced the secret meeting room where Ace, Bartik, Hopper, Reni, and the whole group of Tron City's "noisemakers" were standing in.

"Are you sure this information is accurate?" She asked. "26 Citizens we've interacted with in these borderlines are just…gone? Poof? Just like that?"

Hopper leaned against an empty desk, the frown on his face growing. "Can't really describe it any other way if you still want it to remain accurate as it is." He shrugged. "26 Programs missing, more or less."

Zoe sighed. "They can't be working under Clu." She muttered. "We checked them. Either they weren't careful and got caught, or they suddenly decided they wanted out and fled." She stopped pacing and shook her head. "Something's not right. We're missing something."

She looked at Ace. "Only 26 Programs missing from the City?"

Ace checked the data base. "Uh, it says here 52 Programs have disappeared within the previous 4 MylaCycles." He raised an eyebrow. "Not really liking that bit of information. And apparently 26 Programs of the 52 were ones we've interacted with."

Zoe nodded. "That helps a little. It's not exactly organized like I feared. That's good. Now we just need to figure out why they're disappearing and what's happening to them."

Ace took a step back and held up his hands to stop her. "Hey, whoa. Listen, little grid bug. In case you forgot, most of us are noise-makers, save you, Bartik, and Hopper over there. Go talk to Google and the others if this is going to be a complicated plan. Our part is to be just the distractions. See Alpha if you need help investigating."

Hopper shook his head quickly. "Nope. Uh uh, no way; I'm not seeing her. There's something off about her that I don't like. Besides, she can't even say my name correctly!"

Ace laughed. "Come on, you little pansy! Are you actually afraid of her?" He laughed. "Please tell me I'm wrong! Ha ha ha!"

Hopper glared. "I'm NOT afraid of her!"

Zoe growled in frustration. "SHUT UP! All of you! 52 Programs have disappeared into thin air, as it seems and you all think it's that appropriate time to LAUGH?!" She turned and stormed out of the room.

Ace's grin quickly disappeared from his face. "Wait. Zoe, come on, it's not like that. You need to calm down." He followed her out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Bartik glanced around the room in silence. "…Well this is awkward…"

Zoe didn't look behind her to know Ace was walking behind her. "Stay away! I'm not very happy with you."

Ace pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and grabbed her shoulder roughly, spinning her around to face him. "What is it with you? Even though it seems like you've forgiven me, it's like you're still mad at me."

Zoe narrowed her eyes. "It's because you always feel the impulse to act immature and playful when you're expected to be taking things seriously! Were you even paying attention when I said 52 Programs in this City vanished completely without a trace or an explanation why?"

Ace looked down at the floor. "Yeah, I did. Sorry for trying to lighten up the mood."

Zoe pinched her lips into a thin line and stared him down. "Why did Tron even pick you?"

Ace raised an eyebrow. "Many reasons. Every time you ask, I'll give you a different reason. They're all true."

"So tell me something new." She folded her arms.

Ace shrugged. "Tron would probably kill himself if all the Programs he was around weren't a combination of smart, strong, humorous, mature, playful, and decisive." His eyes bored holes into her. "Not a single Program on our old team had all of those qualities, Zoe. And you were the 'stiff' Program of the group."

Zoe closed her eyes and sighed. "I need some time alone. If Programs keep disappearing at this kind of constant pace, we'll need to do something about it, indefinitely. I…need to think of a plan."

She turned around and started walking away from him again down the hall. Her shoulders were sagged and her posture was less than straight and attentive. She's been looking that way for the past couple of cycles now.

Zoe chewed on her thumbnail as she kept going. This was bad. Really bad. No one predicted that Programs would mysteriously disappear and that could potentially put ripples in the plan, whether they got involved in the situation or not.

If they did nothing, they'd keep losing supporting Citizens. But if they did investigate and try to solve the problem, everyone could get distracted while Clu does something TRULY bad.

Clu had blown up Argon City and turned it into smithereens a few HiloCycles ago. Not to mention he attempted genocide on the ISOs and who-else-knows-what. She had no doubt he'd attempt something along those ranges or worse…

…

Valor's POV

The female ISO pulled on the hair on her head. "What are we going to do now?" She collapsed in a chair close to Valor. "We've got nothing to do because Evelyn absolutely forbids any ISO or influent Program to attract any attention. We haven't done any training drills or knocked soldier heads, so I'M BORED NEARLY TO DEATH!"

Valor pursed his lips. "Be careful what you wish for…" He stated cryptically as he leaned back in his chair.

Cassie sighed and shoved his shoulder. "Seriously, dude. I've gotta do something or I'll tear my hair out of my head!"

He smirked. "I'd actually like to see that…"

Cassie scowled at Valor. "That's it!" She jumped to her feet and tackled him out of his chair. She gripped the collar of his suit tightly in her hands as she wrestled with him. They rolled around on the floor as they took out their anger and frustration at each other.

Cassie punched him in the gut a couple of times and yelled. "Do you even care what's going on? You don't want to do something?!"

Valor grabbed Cassie's shoulders and flipped them over so he was on top and pinned her wrists above her head. "Yes, I do." He said. "I was actually beginning to wonder when you'd ask me. It really wasn't necessary to flip out, you crazy Program."

Cassie's expression turned from anger to surprise, then she looked annoyed. "Then get off me and let's do something!" She planted her foot on his stomach and kicked him off her.

Valor laughed on the floor for a while as his suit turned all black and his helmet slid on and over his face. Cassie stood up and rolled her eyes as she did the same to her attire.

She pressed her index finger to the front center of her mask as a gesture to keep quiet. Valor rolled his eyes. "I know the drill!" He said loudly.

"Shhhh!" Cassie hissed as she grabbed his wrist and pushed him out of the window of the apartment. She took a few steps back before she dove headfirst out of the window and landed on top of Valor at the bottom like a cushion.

"Oh, ow!" He complained as he rubbed his shoulder and stretched backwards. "I think I popped something!"

"Next time, be quieter." She said firmly as she stood up.

Valor sighed as he stood up. "Okay, let's go find something to hit or blow up. You appear to have a lot of anger and tension to release. I just wanna have some fun."

Cassie pretended to ignore his remark as she pulled a homemade bomb out of her pocket along with several other paint grenades and synched them to a remote detonator.

Valor was nagged at the back of his head regarding Cassie's attitude. Her violent tendencies exponentially got more extreme and she was starting to act a little jumpy since she couldn't do any training drills.

It was one of the things Evelyn told her was dangerous and needed to be controlled. That kind of ignorance could get anyone killed.

Or in serious trouble.

Valor didn't think much about it, but he was beginning to wonder if the lack of physical exercise was somehow taking its toll on her mental behavior.

Her changes were slow and gradual over the number of HiloCycles but no one seemed to notice any of her changes.

Well, that or no one bothered to bring it up in a conversation.

She handed Valor the detonator and put the bomb and grenades in her pocket. Then she set off towards Clu's major headquarters with determination.

Valor's eyes widened. "Uh, I don't think that's a good idea, Cassie. That building is heavily guarded and we could get killed."

Cassie stopped walking and spun around to face him. She looked thoughtful. "You're right…" She mumbled.

She turned around again and kept walking towards the headquarters. Valor sighed in frustration. "Hope you know what you're doing." He said.

"Oh, I do." She replied as she waved her hand over a random wall and a keypad appeared. She tapped in the code and opened up the hidden safe. There were two light sword batons inside.

Cassie clipped one to her belt and tossed Valor the other. "Give me your disk." She held out her hand.

Valor disconnected his disk without question and gave it to her so she could lock it up. "This won't take very long." She assured him as she slammed the safe shut and the keypad disappeared.

Then they arrived at Clu's main base. And that building was HUGE! It was also a surprise when they found the building wasn't as guarded as expected. Especially since the noisemaking group was well-known in the City now.

Cassie hooked up the giant bomb to the main entrance and set up the paint grenades all over the building. The duo then ran for cover before Valor took the honor to press the button on the detonator.

Then they both watched the fireworks happen from a safe distance. He simply enjoyed causing mischief once in a while but Cassie now seemed like an "insane adrenaline junkie" as Flynn would have put it.

She laughed with a big grin as a chunk of the lower building around the doors blew into debris. At the same time, the paint bombs did their part as the white graffiti spread all over the building with their signature words: "ISOS RISE."

But it was truly amazing and frightening to see how quickly how quickly the Guards assembled and spread out to find out who did it. And what made it even more terrifying is that they seemed to know exactly where they were.

"Uh oh," Valor said.

Cassie's eyes widened and she grabbed Valor's hand before they bolted to the nearest dark alley. What made the chase horrible for the ISOs as well were the fact the guards knew the streets and alleys much better than them because they haven't been in the City for several XilaCycles.

It was petrifying and annoying.

Everywhere they turned, guards were either right on their heels or were somewhere ahead to make them change direction and nearly run into another squad.

Soon enough, the couple were cornered in a dead-end alley and surrounded by at least thirty guards. Cassie quickly pulled out her lightsword and grinned wickedly. "I've been waiting to do something like this for HiloCycles now!" She shouted as she charged straight at the guards and-

They derezzed her.

Valor's breath caught in his throat and watched in horror as her entire body dissolved into tiny little cubes like she was nothing.

He gritted his teeth and clenched his baton so hard his hand hurt.

The guard that derezzed Cassie stepped forward with his disk ready to end Valor as well. "Surrender, Program." He stated. "And you will be shown mercy."

Valor squeezed his eyes shut to avoid shedding any tears. He was strong and would show that by not crying. Cassie wouldn't have cried for him, and that was okay.

He squeezed the baton one final time before he threw it over the guard's head in frustration before holding his hands up. He was an ISO; even if he didn't have his disk, he wouldn't lose his memories. He was as close to a User as any Program could get.

Several guards came forward and roughly pinned his hands behind his back. He may have look as though he'd given up, but he still had dignity.

One of the guards paused and looked at the one with the disk. "This one's a stray." He reported.

The other guard looked at Cassie's remains and pushed around the cubes with his foot, finding no disk in the pile. "They're both strays." He clarified.

"Perhaps they weren't the vandals." One guard suggested.

The guard put his disk away and walked up to Valor. He studied him for a moment. "Send him to The Games." He said.

Valor's eyes widened as they dragged him back to the headquarters he and Cassie blew up, where a recognizer was already waiting.

The sad thing was that he wouldn't have the time to mourn Cassie's death. It weighed him down like a sack of stones. He LET this happen to her. And now he was suffering his own punishment.

Evelyn was so going to kill him if he didn't die in the Games first.

This was so not good…

…

**Trailer…**

Ally sighed and leaned back on the couch. Beck automatically wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they both stared at the rest of their group through their masks.

"Are you sure this info is accurate?" Ally asked in a worried tone. "That's a lot of missing Programs. Sorry if I'm being paranoid, but for all we know, it could've been a setup from Clu to distract us."

Jay shook his head as he checked a data pad. "No, this is legit. About half of the missing Programs are ones we've contacted and haven't heard from in a while." He frowned. "This is really weird. What do you guys think is behind all this?"

Zoe clenched her jaw and she stared at the floor. "I don't know." She stood up. "But I'm going to find out."

Ace looked at her in surprise. "How?" He asked.

Zoe didn't look at anybody. "Because I'm going to disappear, too."

…

Courtney glanced around several times to make sure no one was around before she stepped out of the alley. She sighed. "I don't know how you managed to convince me to leave the cave again, Aurora. But if I'm caught by either Clu or my old friends, we're done for. I'll either be locked up or memory wiped again, or my own friends will put me on trial for treason."

"DON'T BE LIKE THAT. YOU CAN EASILY REDEEM YOURSELF IN TIME. YOU ALWAYS USED TO SAY THAT PATIENCE IS KEY." Aurora said.

Courtney smiled faintly. "Of course," She looked at the byte – her only companion and trustworthy one at that. "How do you always know how to encourage me?" She asked softly.

"IT'S WHAT COMPANIONS ARE FOR." Aurora stated matter of factly. "NOW COME ON! LET'S FIGURE OUT WHAT'S GOING ON."

…

Evelyn paced the room impatiently. "We need some serious help." She bit the inside of her cheek. "We're not getting out word fast enough! We need someone who can."

Beck nodded. "Yeah, someone who's close to the public, someone who can unite every rebellious Program."

Liz brightened up and snapped her fingers. "I know who to visit!" She exclaimed. "It's time to see an old pal of mine!"

"Who?" Ally inquired.

Liz grinned. "Zuse."

…

Jay's expression literally turned to shock. "What?!"

Emi panted for breath and nodded quickly. "It's true! I-I heard the name! In the arena…"

Paige's eyes widened. "We need to tell everyone else! Asap!"

Dallas started pacing. "Things are getting out of whack! The last thing we needed was a User to enter the Grid!"

"But this isn't just any User," Emi said pointedly. "This is the son of Flynn…"

…

"Lookout!" Ally shouted as she steered her light jet out of the way of the blasts.

Beck glanced behind him as he maneuvered, looking straight at the Program that was once his mentor. His sadness quickly turned to confusion, then to shock and surprise when he saw Rinzler pull up on his light jet and abort attacking the Users and ISO.

He watched Rinzler do a huge loop in midair, spin around, and steered himself straight at Clu. "I…fight for THE USERS!" He pushed the jet's speed to maximum and crashed squarely into Clu.

"NO!" Beck shouted as he watched both Programs plummet faster toward the sea. He quickly closed his jet back into a baton and dove after Clu and Rinzler.

"BECK!" Ally shouted from above.

…

Evelyn knocked away another black guard in the End of Line Club. "I can't believe Zuse double-crossed us!" She shouted. Her fierce expression from fighting immediately turned to surprise and confusion as she saw someone run towards Sam Flynn from behind. "Hey…is that Quorra?" She asked.

Dallas whirled around and grinned. "Hey! It is Quorra."

Evelyn side-glanced and gasped. "Dallas, look out!"

Dallas whirled around just in time to see a Black guard swing his disk at her neck.

…

Ally bowed her head in the trio's presence. The rest of her group followed her lead. "Flynn…it's been a while…" She said in a blank but respectful tone.

Flynn's son raised his eyebrows. "I have a mini model of you on my shelf! Dad used to tell me stories all the time!"

Ally turned puzzled when he mentioned mini models. "What?" She asked.

Beck said nothing under his mask but no doubt raised an eyebrow.

Flynn chuckled at Sam's remark and glanced towards the portal. His expression suddenly turned serious. "We don't have much time. We gotta hurry."

"We'll assist and accompany you all the way to the Portal." Ally offered. "If what your son says is possible. It would be very helpful to just delete Clu from the outside than have to bring him down from the inside. Then we could devote our efforts to fixing and restoring the Grid."

Flynn grinned. "It's really good to see you guys again!"

…

Ally gasped. "What do you mean you lost track of her?!" She demanded. "We have a tracking bug on her!"

Google frantically searched his screens. "I-I don't know! She just…disappeared off the maps."

Beck shook his head. "This isn't right. Something weird is going on." He glanced at Ally. "Pinpoint the last known location from the bug before she vanished. We're going after her."

"No you aren't." Evelyn said. "You're staying here."

"You're not the boss of us!" Ally snapped.

Evelyn didn't even blink an eye. "It's for your own good."

…

**Initiating repurposing protocols…** A monotone voice echoed throughout the room.

Ally's disk was unlatched from her back and rose above her head and she fully realized what they were doing. "Pfft!" She scoffed. "You can't repurpose a Special! It's impossible!" Ally smirked.

Clu didn't even flinch. Nothing changed – not even his amused expression, which was really bad for her. "Perhaps not before…but this one's different."

Ally's victorious smile died completely. "No…" She whispered.

"Oh, yes." Clu said, walking up to the tube so he was centimeters from the glass that separated them. "This was designed especially for YOU." He grinned. "I look forward to working with you."

It was Clu's turn to look triumphant. "Have a pleasant cycle." He said smoothly as he turned around and left the room, followed by the other Programs to leave her by herself.

She slumped into the side of the tube in defeat and rested her head against the glass. "No…" she whispered as she closed her eyes and felt the tears as her code started to leave her body.

* * *

**Okay, I'll keep this one brief. I was lucky to update at this time - I've been superbusy and schoolwork isn't going to be letting up anytime soon. So expect some infrequent and slow updates for now. Sorry for the inconvenience. But hopefully a little trailer of the book will help make up for it.**

**Have a great cycle, Programs! TRON LIVES!**


	2. Counseling

**Greetings, Programs! Sorry, I know I haven't updated for a while. My life has been...interesting. And I think this chapter will be too.**

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Counseling**

Liz's POV

Liz – who managed to adjust to new life in Tron City and took to liberty of forming her own schedule – was sprawled on a couch in the basement…as usual. Her mouth hung wide open and her tongue dangled out from the side like a dog's.

Liz's eyes were pinched closed as her face was mashed against one of the couch arms.

Zoe quietly made her way down the staircase and paused, staring at her friend when she reached the bottom. She placed her right hand on her hip and pursed her lips. Judging by the look on her face, it would've been safe to assume that it'd take a lot more than a loud noise to wake her up.

The 'stiff' agent hung her head and rolled her eyes as she walked across the room to the desk.

Liz, who didn't shift the tiniest bit, opened one eye slightly and smirked. She knew Zoe well, but it wasn't quite the other way around. For starters, Zoe didn't know that Liz snored when she was **actually** asleep.

Zoe pressed the secret button and walked through the secret entrance. Liz, being the fun, mischievous one, followed silently.

Zoe going straight ahead in the secret tunnel and headed in a different direction than the 'repurposing' room. She ran her hand along the wall until she pressed another button on the wall and the dead-end wall in front of her slid out of the way and she found herself in another apartment's basement.

Dallas, the one watching that basement, looked up to greet Zoe but raised an eyebrow at Liz. She quickly raised a finger to her lips and gave her the begging eyes.

Zoe folded her arms. "What's wrong?"

Dallas quickly straightened up. "Oh, nothing. You…just look flustered."

Liz finally caught up to Zoe completely and grinned from behind. It was all Dallas could do to keep a straight face at the sight. Liz roughly smacked her palms against Zoe's upper back. "BOO!"

Zoe probably jumped 5 feet off the ground and gave the most girlish yelp that Liz didn't even know she was capable of. She spun around with murder on her face and shoved her. "What the heck?!" She shouted.

Liz shrugged. "Just thought to have some fun." She grinned. "You're welcome." The sassy Program turned on her heels and headed back the way she came.

Zoe sighed exasperatedly and closed her eyes. "Wait a nano, Liz." Her friend paused and turned her head.

"Yes?"

Zoe sat down in the nearest chair and roughly massaged her face. "I'm calling a get-together here. Bring as many as you can but be sure that Beck and Alpha are here."

"Just the team?" Zoe nodded. Liz nodded back. "Okay, Beck and Al just headed out to ditch some cleansed Programs. They should be on their way back."

"Thank you."

Liz frowned and tilted her head to one side. "You alright? You look stressed."

Zoe groaned. "I'll explain at the meeting."

She nodded and headed back through the narrow tunnels to the basement of her assigned apartment. That was really weird. It wasn't like Zoe at all to boldly call meetings like that…even in serious situations. She always was the shy one.

_What happened to her back there…?_ Liz wondered.

By the time she entered the basement and closed the door, she heard loud and fast footsteps thundering down the stairs.

Beck and Alpha each had worried looks on their faces. "Where were you?! When we got back, you weren't here…not even asleep on the couch!" Ally said.

Liz didn't even blink. "Zoe's holding a meeting soon. We need to gather the rest of the teams inside the City. Dallas is already getting her group."

Beck and Ally glanced at each other. "I'll get Paige." Ally said.

Beck nodded. "I'll get Ace then."

Liz watched them run back upstairs to leave the building. She blew a loose strand of hair out of her eyes and pursed her lips. "Fine, fine! I'll go get Evelyn, then." She sprinted up the stairs, skipping two stairs at a time and grabbed her lightcycle baton.

She shut the apartment door behind her and locked it. Then she started running and pulled he baton apart, rezzing her lightcycle. To make sure she wasn't being followed, Liz went around a random block a few times and took a detour to Evelyn's place. Liz made it a few blocks before a bright spotlight shone over her.

She cursed, forgetting about the curfew. "Stupid strict rules. Stupid Clu. Stupid recognizer shining its stupid light on me!" she revved the engine and took a minor detour of the detour to shake off the recognizer, which was unsuccessful.

Liz growled and braked so hard she was almost worried her bike would flip. The spotlight lost her as she slowed and maneuvered into an alley. She derezzed her bike back into a baton and backed against one of the walls, holding her breath.

_Stupid City. Stupid guards that don't give up._ She peeked around a corner and sighed when the Clu's minions were gone. Liz gingerly stepped out and decided to head to Evelyn's on foot. "Next time I'll just stick to the tunnel system instead of going for fresh air." She grumbled.

When she got to Evelyn's, she knocked loudly on the door for at least a Micro before it opened. And stood before her was a stressed out Evelyn.

"Have you seen Cassie or Valor?" She asked.

Liz shook her head. "No? Why?"

Evelyn sighed. "I found their rooms empty several Micros ago."

"Maybe they're at the meeting." She suggested.

Evelyn raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Oh, Zoe called an emergency meeting at Dallas's place. Get as many Programs from our teams as you can."

Evelyn went upstairs and called everyone down to the basement. Chad came down first, then Kym, Sylvie, and several other members of the ISO Council. The rest lived with Dallas, of course.

And that included the annoying guy that always seemed to judge everyone's creative ideas.

It still remained a mystery to Liz how he became a member of the council if he was always a "stick in the mud." After all, he wasn't just a stupid jerk to Alpha; he's gotten on Liz's case, too. He even criticized Evelyn a few times.

Chad got downstairs first and immediately asked what was going on.

"Bad things." Liz said once everyone was together (except Valor and Cassie). "A lot of Programs mysteriously disappeared within a very short time frame. We all need to meet at Dallas's and discuss this."

"Do you already have a few ideas?" Sylvie asked.

Liz hesitated for a moment before nodding slowly. "Yeah, it's crazy and may be frowned upon but I think I should propose it anyway."

Evelyn raised an eyebrow at Liz. "It really depends how crazy your idea is and how desperate we are in the situation."

Liz shrugged. "According to Zoe, it's pretty bad."

"Then let's not waste any more time." Evelyn stated.

…

Beck's POV

"You know what, Liz, you're right." Evelyn said to Liz during the meeting.

Liz had just proposed an idea to help find a way to get clues regarding the disappearances of the Programs. And Beck wasn't entirely sure what to make of it yet.

The Special grinned. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I **do** frown upon it."

Liz stuck out her tongue. "Hey, come on! You have to admit it was super elaborate and even genius of me to even bring it up! I have it all thought through and everything!"

Beck glanced at Ally next to her and noticed she was looking back at him. She cleared her throat and quickly spoke up, turning to face Liz. "As risky as it kind of sounds, it's overall not that bad of a plan. I'm sure a few of us could pose as some of Clu's guards. After all, every cycle he's losing more and more due to cleansing practices. I'm sure it would help a little with numbers if a few of us filled some empty spaces."

Liz lifted a hand towards Ally. "Thank you! Finally, someone who can actually see things in different perspectives!"

"But I'm sure there's a reason behind all those disappearances." The annoying Council member (whom everyone came to know as Aden) argued. "Perhaps Clu noticed some of his guards were missing and simply wished to replace them?" He guessed.

"Are you always going to argue with everyone?" Ally asked.

He shrugged. "I'm just looking at possibilities. It's a habit that none of the other Programs in this room have developed."

Beck lifted an eyebrow while Zoe spoke up. "Maybe not the entire package. But some of us do look at possibilities **without** criticism."

"Oh, really?" Ace asked, leaning against a wall. "Sorry, I must've missed that detail about you."

Zoe scowled at him. "No one asked for you opinion!"

"Same goes for you." He shot back.

"Well I stated facts!" Zoe snapped.

"So did I." Ace replied.

"Are we going to continue arguing or are we getting straight to the point of this meeting?" Beck finally asked. He was tired of seeing this. "Zoe was the one that called this meeting and she hasn't even spoken other than stating the facts. Then you all interrupted her."

Zoe looked at Beck in surprise and flashed a quick grin. "Thanks." She mouthed to him.

He nodded curtly. It wasn't like he was willing to remove his mask to just mouth something back. Nor was he in much of a mood to talk anymore.

"I didn't hear the 'facts' part in this meeting because it took me a while to find Paige and Sky." She shot a pointed look at them and they grinned back sheepishly. "I don't suppose I could be filled in quickly."

Zoe nodded. "Apparently Programs in this City and several neighboring ones are disappearing. So far in this City within 4 Mylas, 52 Programs in general have vanished. About 26 of them were ones we've contacted."

Zoe's expression was hard to read as she spoke. She was thinking; and if Beck had to guess right there and then, he'd assume her plan wouldn't be too different from Liz's.

Ally raised an eyebrow. "Really? That many? That's like…over 10 Programs every MylaCycle if the numbers down fluctuate too much. That's kind of hard to believe. You'd think that if Clu was really behind all this, he'd be more subtle."

Zoe shrugged. "There're lots of theories behind all this but we don't know the real answer behind all this. But we'll find out soon."

Ally sighed and leaned back on the couch. Beck automatically wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they both stared at the rest of their group through their masks.

"But are you sure this info is accurate?" Ally asked in a worried tone. "That's a lot of missing Programs. Sorry if I'm being paranoid, but for all we know, it could've been a setup from Clu to distract us. And that's only IF he really is behind all of this."

Jay shook his head as he checked a data pad. "No, this is legit. About half of the missing Programs are ones we've contacted and haven't heard from in a while." He frowned. "This is really weird. What do you guys think is behind all this?"

Zoe clenched her jaw and she stared at the floor. "I don't know." She stood up. "But I'm going to find out."

Ace looked at her in surprise. "How?" He asked.

Zoe didn't look at anybody. "Because I'm going to disappear, too."

Liz looked at her in surprise. Evelyn was speechless as were most of the other Programs in the room. Beck stood up abruptly. "That's not a good idea." He said. "You're needed here; we could easily get a volunteer from inside this City to have a tracking bug put on him and sent out to the streets. But you shouldn't go."

Zoe looked at Beck. "But I'm experienced in this kind of thing; Liz, Ace and Reni have seen me go through similar situations. I've played the role of an inside man plenty of times that I could do it in my sleep."

She looked straight at Chad. "Get Google to put a tracking bug on me; several, actually. We can't be too careful. I want to leave ready for the mission as soon as possible."

Ace looked at Zoe with an expression he's hardly used. It appeared to be a mixture of worry, hurt, surprise, confusion, and…something else that Beck couldn't lay a finger on.

Ace was usually so good at hiding his emotions but now he was almost an open book. Almost. Beck could tell how he was somewhat feeling, but he didn't know what he was thinking.

Ally stood up and walked over to Zoe. "Can we talk privately?" She asked quietly.

Zoe tensely nodded. "Let's keep it brief."

They walked out of the room talking in hushed voices in what seemed to be some sort of girly argument. Only less girly than the stereotypes. It seemed to be more of a really bad verbal fight towards one another.

He pinched his lips together and watched them both disappear from his field of vision. No one ever saw Zoe fighting with Ally. It seemed unreal because they were so close.

While the duo was still gone, Liz cleared her throat. "I don't suppose we could still use my plan of using inside men in Clu's base-"

"Now that we all think about it, it doesn't sound quite so risky anymore…especially compared to Zoe's idea." Ace stated. "I'm up for being one of the inside men…as long as I can still cause distractions when necessary."

Beck looked at Evelyn. "You don't think someone will deny Zoe's request or try to discourage her?" He asked.

Evelyn shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know Zoe quite that well, but I'm already sure that Zoe's completely made up her mind. We could try to stop her, but she'll ultimately do it anyway. I've seen Programs with those looks before…" She shook her head. "Most don't usually succeed when they're not supported. The best we can do is helping her how we can."

Beck slouched in his seat like he was exhausted. He was. Not physically, but psychologically. He knew Zoe was very smart, fit, and had a lot of common sense. But this wasn't like her.

Zoe was usually the bold leader with smaller groups, teams. But she was in front of about 20 Programs in a basement and didn't even stutter once as she spoke. She sounded so prepared and sure of herself about this plan that most Programs were either speechless or just had to agree with her.

She was, after all, one of Tron's perfect agents.

Everyone would just have to do their best of trusting her judgment.

Ally walked back into the room, looking upset. She plopped back down onto the couch next to Beck and heaved a heavy sigh.

Beck didn't even have to ask what happened between the two of them. Ally immediately opened her mouth to speak. "She's with Google now." She scowled at the floor. "I-I can't **believe** that she'd just go and do something hasty like that!"

Beck placed one of his hands over hers. "I know you mean well for her." He said quietly and hesitantly. "Both you and her have good judgment, but this is her decision and we just have to hope things go well for her."

Ally's shoulder sagged and she leaned into Beck. "She's one of my best friends." She whispered. "If anything happened to her…I-" She pressed her lips together and shook her head. "I don't know what I'd do."

Beck shrugged. "It really depends on what will happen to everyone in the future."

Ally slowly nodded. "Yeah, I guess so…"

…

Courtney's POV

Courtney bit her tongue so hard it was a miracle that it was still intact…sort of. Since she's abandoned Argon City because of the…incident, she's been chewing on her nails, her tongue, and the inside of her cheek, practically anything that could be chewed.

She'd even chewed on a stupid rock when she couldn't gnaw on herself any longer because of how painful it'd gotten. But Courtney knew she'd have to break the habit soon. Aurora, her one and only companion that she trusted now was starting to worry.

Courtney and Aurora may not go as far back as she did with Alpha, but they developed quite a strong bond with each other in the short amount of time together in the Outlands…and other Cities on the Grid.

And even though Aurora was just a byte, she still knew how to deliver threats.

"I SWEAR, IF YOU KEEP BITING YOURSELF OR ANOTHER STUPID ROCK, I'LL FIND ALPHA OR SOME OTHER RESISTANCE MOVEMENT MEMBER TO HELP BREAK THAT HABIT!"

Ouch. Courtney wasn't quite sure if Aurora was bluffing or not – so far, the byte hadn't bothered to go back on her word…so maybe it wasn't best to challenge her.

Besides,

Courtney immediately pulled her hand away from her mouth – the one holding the rock.

Aurora's spiky; constantly shifting body that always hovered in the air darted at her hand and knocked the rock from the loose grip in her fingers.

The caramel-hair colored Program ignored the aggressive movement and ran her pained and chewed-up tongue along the crowns of her teeth.

Aurora certainly had a point. She needed to stop chewing on rocks as a sorry way to drown out her misery and regrets. It was kind of embarrassing now that she thought about it. Sooner or later, her teeth were going to be anything but perfect.

Courtney sighed and buried her face in her hands. Whenever she didn't have something to chew on – something to take her mind off what had happened – she went back to wallowing, regretting, and feeling sorry for herself.

Her main goal in life was to reach inner peace. How in User's name was she supposed to achieve something so **impossible** now?! She'd already tried getting back to meditating but when it came to clearing her head, she couldn't get rid of the haunting images of the time she derezzed every Special in the group that manipulated her for Clu's benefit.

And Jake…

She violently shook her head from side to side in a weak attempt to get him out of her mind. She didn't want to think about him.

Jake was a sick-minded, seducing, and falsely securing Program. Courtney didn't care how he acted around other Programs; it was how he truly was around her.

If he really had feelings for her, it remained a mystery and he preferred it to stay that way. In fact, she just hoped he was in it just to play her as a fool.

The worst kind of love was the demented kind. And a few Programs have been suffering of that lately. And one of them was the Resistance Movement's greatest enemy that is yet to be dealt with. Hopefully soon.

Courtney was still conflicted whether she should get involved again or remain here; staying overwhelmed with guilt and chew herself 'till possible derezzolution.

She shuddered at the thought.

But still, **if** she went back, she'd have no doubt that even the Programs that were her closest friends would punish her for the ultimate crime she committed.

No, she wasn't ready to face everyone yet. Courtney would have to remain here for just a bit longer.

Aurora started making humming sounds, the same tune as when they first met just outside the cave in the Outlands. It was a lovely sound; beautiful, but almost melancholy, with a hint of mystery behind all of it.

It was sort of strange…how Aurora became a byte. Even Courtney hadn't completely figured it all out but it was fascinating, nonetheless."

Aurora stopped humming for a moment. "WHAT'RE YOU THINKING ABOUT?" She asked.

Courtney studied the ground of the rock cave. She sat perched on the slightly raised slab of stone that was her meditation spot. She ruffled her hair with her hand for a moment and shrugged. "Just…how we first met." She replied indifferently.

She smiled. "You were probably the greatest thing that's impacted my life lately. I'm really lucky to have someone like you." She closed her eyes. "I really don't deserve having such a good friend like you, Aurora, yet I have you around constantly for company. And…I can't ever express how grateful I am for something like that."

"WHOA, WHOA; HANG ON! DON'T TALK ALL EMOTION LIKE THAT, GIRL! YOU SOUND LIKE YOU'RE GONNA TAKE YOUR OWN LIFE OR LEAVE…" The byte paused. "PLEASE TELL ME I'M NOT GETTING WARMER."

Courtney shook her head. "No, I'm just…I don't know – I'm troubled. I've felt awful ever since my slip up in Argon."

Awkward silence fell in the room.

"I FEEL LIKE THERE'S SUPPOSED TO BE AN 'AND' SOMEWHERE TO CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION." Aurora commented matter-of-factly.

Courtney sighed. "It's just…I feel like I need to make up for it – to redeem myself. I have no doubt someone witnessed me murder several Specials and reported it. If I'm found hiding or caught doing something that looks wrong, I won't have an opportunity to defend myself."

"I CAN VOUCH FOR YOU."

Courtney smiled sadly. "I know you like being around me all the time, but you won't always have the opportunity to explain what happened, either."

"YOU'VE FORGOTTEN THEN. IF WE'RE FOUND TOGETHER, I CAN EXPLAIN YOUR SIDE OF THE STORY BECAUSE BYTES DON'T LIE."

Courtney raised an eyebrow. "They don't?"

"NOPE." Aurora paused. "WELL, I DON'T KNOW IF I'M TECHNICALLY 100% OF A BYTE…CONSIDERING I'M JUST RAW ENERGY IN THE FORM OF SOMETHING ELSE."

"Hold up now, I don't wanna complicate things. I think we should just leave it at that: bytes don't lie."

"WELL, I'VE NEVER TRIED TO LIE BEFORE SO I'M NOT SURE YET."

Courtney laughed nervously. "Well, try it on your own time; I don't want it done in a dire situation."

"DOES THAT MEAN WE'RE ACTUALLY LEAVING THE CAVE AGAIN? …AND STOP CHEWING ON YOUR NAILS!" Courtney immediately yanked her thumb away from her mouth. She didn't even remember starting to bite it.

Aurora made it hard to express her emotions when she spoke in the monotone voice but Courtney assumed it was probably excitement.

"Uhhh, I don't know. Did I say that?" She pursed her lips. "I guess I made it sound like it…"

She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples while she thought long and hard to make a decision. Courtney sighed and looked at Aurora. "Yeah…I guess we are."

She stood up and walked toward the mouth of the cave, grabbing her satchel as she headed out. The Special looked at the empty Outlands sector where there weren't any City lights in sight. The location was also known as "The Middle of Nowhere" and it was given that name for a reason.

Any Program standing where Courtney was could turn in a full circle and not see any signs of Civilization. She could walk several kilometers from her cave and still not see anything. But the reason why she was never found if anyone searched for her was because she was not literally in the middle of the Middle of Nowhere.

Several square kilometers off. Neither her nor Aurora even bothered to pinpoint their locations on a map for their own knowledge.

Courtney raised her finger to her mouth. It was tempting to bite it again but decided against it. She licked the tip of her finger and held it out to test the wind. Sometimes it was a good idea to know how strong the wind was and where it was going for the sake of not getting caught up in strong gusts that could easily knock someone over.

It could also hint where there were storms and such.

It'd happened before – Aurora and Courtney got caught in both situations since they fled Argon and it wasn't pleasant.

Courtney narrowed her eyes as she thought about her possible options of where to go. Obviously the two of them would be heading to a City and their options of direction were narrowed down by the weather.

Courtney turned to face the direction she wanted to go – the calmest possible route. And since Courtney didn't even know for sure about her own location, she didn't know which City she'd be going to.

Aurora approached Courtney, making humming noises again.

The corners of Courtney's lips hinted a small smile as the tunes reached her ears. "That always calms me." She said. "How do you do it?"

"DUNNO. IT JUST COMES TO ME."

"Just comes to you…" Courtney repeated, biting her lip.

"DON'T BITE!" Aurora reminded.

Courtney released her lip and laughed. "It's good having you around. You watch over me AND give me a sample of your infinite wisdom." She let the smile tug at her lips more. "Glad I met you."

"WE CAN SAY THAT WHILE WE'RE RIDING SOMEWHERE. I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU CAN HANDLE BEING ALONE FOR SO LONG BUT I ACTUALLY LIKE SOCIALIZING."

Courtney laughed and opened her satchel. "Aaand…that's something we don't agree to."

"AW SHUT UP, I STILL LIKE HAVING YOU WITH ME. I SAID I LIKE SOCIALIZING, I NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT BEING CLOSE FRIENDS WITH EVERYONE."

"Oh, good." Courtney rolled her eyes as the byte made herself comfortable in the bag. "Glad you don't have any ties with Clu."

"OF COURSE NOT."

Courtney laughed.

* * *

**Yeah...Courtney has a problem or two...but I can definitely think of worse Programs...hint hint :P**

**But anyway, I think I should mention that I don't intend to make this book too long. But I won't be quick either. We can all agree that details are always better, right? ;)**

**TRON LIVES! Toodles.**


	3. It's Time to be Friends

**Happy Tron Tuesday, folks! I'm in a sunshine mood today and I hope you all are as well. :)  
I made some gel electrophoresis today for a lab and I must admit that it's quite "fascinating" - (inside joke with a friend of mine) I have a history of using that word A LOT when I go on Bio Med field trips.**

**Heh, you learned something new about me XD Enjoy the chapter, everyone.**

* * *

**Chapter 3 – It's Time to be Friends**

Ally's POV

She was still really upset with Zoe. This was too abrupt and extreme of a plan to hastily agree with. But another part of her was curious, almost willing to agree with her friend about her going in. Zoe was very smart and capable of such a task to investigate the mysterious disappearing.

Ally was beginning to wonder if she's starting to get clingy to her friends. She cringed. Those kinds of people were very annoying. What kind of Program was she becoming?

She growled and yanked on her hair as she fell back on her bed. Ally turned onto her side and propped her hand on her cheek.

At the very moment, Zoe was helping Google and Chad attach tracking bugs in various places while planning ahead of possible scenarios regarding what could happen on the mission. And most likely pointing out potential locations of where she could go to be picked up…hopefully not resulting in being sent to the games.

Ally sighed and adjusted her position again so she was lying on her back. Someone lightly drummed their fingertips on the other side of her door. "Come in." Ally said bluntly, staring at the ceiling.

Beck stepped inside with a small frown. "Hey," He said quietly. "How're you?"

She closed her eyes. "Beck, am I getting clingy?"

Beck's eyebrows furrowed. "Not that I've noticed." He said slowly. "Why? What's this about?"

Ally shifted to lying on her stomach and looked at him with her chin rested on the palm of her hand. "I feel like I'm keeping my friends too close. I'm arguing against Zoe to keep her here, which inevitably won't happen."

Beck sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at the wall. "You shouldn't be hard on yourself – I'm sure that's not exactly the case for you. I went against Zoe's idea because it was risky. No one has that much information on what's happening regarding the disappearances so she's practically going out on the field blind."

"Not the first time she's done that." Ally commented. "Maybe we could convince Zoe to wait just a few cycles so we can follow through on Liz's plan of infiltration with Clu's base and find out more about what he's been up to. I'm hoping he really has something to do with the disappearances – it'll make things a lot easier."

Beck nodded. "I agree." He smiled and nudged her shoulder. "Hey, people are actually starting to agree with Liz's plan since Zoe's proposal and they still need 2 highly intelligent and skilled combatant Programs – that happen to be dating – to join the team."

Ally looked at a smirking Beck and sighed. "Let me guess…" She tapped her chin like she was thinking really hard to figure it out.

Yeah, right.

"Is it…Ace and Reni?" Beck laughed so hard Ally was beginning to think she may need to proceed with medical protocols or something extreme to calm him down.

Beck wiped an imaginary tear from his eye and grinned. "Really? Is that your only guess?"

Ally sighed. "Why do they want us?"

"Actually, I requested for our involvement." Ally looked at Beck in surprise.

"Why?"

Beck raised an eyebrow. "I'm not blind. You're obviously bored with just secretly visiting with rebels in warehouses and in the Outlands. Besides, I thought you'd want to get a little closer to Clu."

Ally pursed her lips and nodded slowly. "Okay, okay so far it sounds logical enough. What's the catch?"

Beck frowned. "I…don't know of any catch."

Ally rolled her eyes. "Please, there's always a catch with this kind of stuff."

"Guess we'd better be careful then." He got up. "Come on; let's go grab open spaces before they're all taken. We're not the only ones eager for excitement."

Ally's eyes widened and she sat up quickly. "Oh Users, I gotta find Zoe and ask her to postpone the mission!" She slid off the bed and ran out the door.

Beck hurried to catch up. "Alright, I'll sign us up then." He grinned.

Ally smiled. "I love you."

His smile turned to a smirk. "I know."

Ally's jaw dropped from his cocky response but bit back a retort. She could get him later – but Zoe couldn't leave yet, not after their fight. Not right after the horrible things they said to each other.

She bursted through the door to Google's small lab and looked around. "Where's Zoe?" She asked frantically.

Google looked up at her. "She's leaving. Remember? The mission?"

"Well call Zoe and tell her it's postponed!" Ally shouted.

Google frowned. "I-I'm sorry but I don't think you're authorized-"

"I'm authorized under very special and urgent circumstances!" She practically screamed. "Now call off the mission! There's been a change in plans!"

Google tapped a device on his computer. "Uh, Chad?"

There was a static and a barely audible response.

Google pulled the microphone closer. "Apparently under very special circumstances, the mission's postponed. Get Zoe back here."

There was a louder response but Google cut it off. "Alpha requested it. No, I don't know why, but it sounds very important."

Google turned off the speaker and looked back at Ally. "They're not happy but you have your wish."

Ally willed herself to calm down and smiled. "Thank you." She patted him on the shoulder and turned to leave the room. "Could you ask Zoe to report to my basement when she gets back?"

Google nodded. "Fine."

"Thanks. I owe you one, buddy!" She shouted as she dashed out to meet up with Beck again.

"Don't mention it." She barely heard Google's mutter.

Ally crashed into Chad after he turned a corner and sent him sprawling. He looked up and glared. "Nice." He said coldly.

She stopped short of bending to help him up. "W-What?" She stuttered.

He got up and brushed himself off. "What was so important?" Chad asked.

To save a long explanation, she just replied: "If you wait for me in my basement with some other Programs, you'll get the answer."

Before he could say anything in reply, she started running again. She twisted through the windy narrow halls of the underground tunnels and slid right past the room she was looking for. Ally backtracked a few steps and walked through the doors to see Beck talking with Liz.

Ally smiled warmly. "Hey guys."

Liz grinned so wide it was almost freaky. "Yay! Al's here!" She pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're supporting me, girl. It means a lot to me."

Ally nodded. "Yeah, about that…" She smiled coyly. "I'm calling another boring meeting regarding that."

Liz hung her head and groaned like a dying…something. Ally made a weird face. "That was…pleasant."

Beck chuckled. Liz glared at him and he straightened up. "I'll uh, go get Evelyn." He looked at Ally. "It's being held in our basement, right?"

She nodded and watched Beck leave. Ally grinned at Liz and wound an arm around Liz's shoulders and guided her to the meeting place. "Don't worry, Liz. I'm not expecting anything on your part to change. It's about the insiders trying to grasp information from Clu's side and reporting it so Zoe has some intellectual preparation for her now postponed mission."

Liz looked at Ally. "Wha-What?!"

She grinned. "No worries."

…

Courtney's POV

Just to their luck, they managed to get to Tron City within a few Cycles of traveling. Courtney closed her bike back into a baton and placed her bare foot just past the border of the City's limits. It was actually nice to walk on smooth ground again.

Because she lost her boots somewhere back in Argon and decided against going back to fetch them. Courtney didn't regret it though – she hated them anyway.

The Special slid on her mask and let Aurora out of her satchel. The byte swirled around in the air for a few moments, disoriented from the ride. "Oh, I hate traveling." She complained.

Courtney gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

She looked around as she strode through the empty street. It was eerily quiet. No one else was walking around and Courtney was beginning to wonder why.

A blinding light fell upon Courtney and she lifted a hand to shade her eyes – the tint in the mask didn't do much good. _Oh, that's why…_ A recognizer loomed over her ominously. It must be curfew.

It was strange – Argon City had a different Curfew timing than this one.

Courtney turned and bolted; no good using a bike when recognizers could track a program more easily from the air. She lifted her hand and pressed a small button on the back of the neck on her suit. Her circuits blacked out and she ducked into an alley.

She grabbed Aurora and shoved her back into the satchel as she held her breath. Courtney heard muffled protests from inside the bag but ignored them. She dared to peek around a corner and to her horror, found herself just millimeters from another soldier's mask.

He grabbed her.

Courtney's eyes looked around frantically. He wasn't alone, either. Several more hands helped him restrain her. One of them took her satchel and was even stupid enough to open it up.

Aurora shot out fast as a plasma beam and hit the guard's mask, shattering it and most likely damaging part of his face. Then she attacked the next solder close to her. Courtney kicked one of the soldiers away from her and managed to yank the rest with her back into the alley.

The darkness was her friend, so she's use it to her advantage.

She knew what oblivion was really like, so she had right to use it as her personal weapon.

Courtney knew darned well how to fight, so she'd use violence if she had to.

A few Micros later, the guards were sprawled on the ground, either unconscious or too pained to get up. Courtney collected their disks and put them in her satchel – she could deal with those later.

Aurora, now calmed down, approached Courtney making sounds that could be guessed as angry noises. "NEXT TIME WE'RE IN A SITUATION LIKE THAT, HOW ABOUT I SHOVE YOU IN A BAG AND SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!"

Courtney chewed on her lip.

"AND NO CHEWING!"

Courtney released her lip and leaned away from the byte. "Sorry, you glow naturally and I can't do a thing about that except hide you." She reached up and pushed the button on her suit's neck to reactivate her circuits. It was actually a nice little adjustment she made herself while she was back in solitude.

Everyone always needs something to pass the time.

She sighed. "This is crazy. I haven't spent even a quarter of a PectroCycle in here yet and I've already been attacked!" She paused. "And…is it weird they have a different curfew time here?"

"I AGREE, THAT'S STRANGE."

"Something weird's happening." She said in a low voice. Courtney glanced around several times to make sure no one was around before she stepped out of the alley. She sighed. "I don't know how you managed to convince me to leave the cave again, Aurora. But if I'm caught by either Clu or my old friends, we're done for. I'll either be locked up or memory wiped again, or my own friends will put me on trial for treason."

"DON'T BE LIKE THAT. YOU CAN EASILY REDEEM YOURSELF IN TIME. YOU ALWAYS USED TO SAY THAT PATIENCE IS KEY." Aurora said.

Courtney smiled faintly. "Of course," She looked at the byte – her only companion and trustworthy one at that. "How do you always know how to encourage me?" She asked softly.

"IT'S WHAT COMPANIONS ARE FOR." Aurora stated matter of factly. "NOW COME ON! LET'S FIGURE OUT WHAT'S GOING ON."

Courtney noticed the recognizer was now left unoccupied – all personal appeared to have left their posts to deal with her. Her lips thinned into a hard line as she clambered up the steps to investigate.

There weren't many prisoners. The Programs here must take curfews here really seriously. Probably out of fear of Clu or…whatever.

One of the Programs looked up. "Look! We've been saved! We won't be rectified!"

Courtney's brows furrowed. "Rectified?" She repeated.

Another spoke up in a quiet voice. "They were going to repurpose us instead of sending us to the coliseum."

Courtney glanced at Aurora behind her and faced the Programs again. "Well, this is your lucky cycle because this is all a total accident." She pulled out her disk and jammed it into the controls of their foot restraints."

All the Programs bolted to make their escape with Courtney. "Who are you?" One of them asked, studying her mask and suit closely.

Courtney thought for a moment. "Just call me a friend." She said quietly.

…

Zoe's POV

"Okay, I called you all here for a very important reason." Ally looked at Zoe as she spoke. "And yes, it was urgent enough to call Zoe off the mission until further notice."

A quiet murmur passed through the small group of Programs in the basement. Zoe crossed her arms with a sour look. "And why is that?"

"You don't know what we're getting into yet." Ally replied. "We all might as well be going out after curfew blindfolded – only the stakes are higher on that mission. It's best if we accept Liz's proposal of infiltrating Clu's base to find out any relations between him and the disappearances so we at least know a little of what's really going on." She leaned against the wall. "Besides, it may be easier to find out where all those Programs are disappearing to."

Zoe pinched her lips together. Ally had a point, even though she didn't want to admit it. She was still mad about their argument from earlier.

"I agree!" Liz pitched in. "I mean, come on. Since when has Alpha been terrible with planning?"

No one spoke against it.

Zoe scowled at the floor and grumbled, "Fine." She turned and stalked out the door.

And Ally followed her. "Zoe?"

Zoe didn't answer. She quickened her pace.

"Zoe, wait up. We need to talk." She stopped abruptly and spun around.

"What!"

Ally's determined expression softened almost to a look of hurt. It was only there for half a nano before she recollected herself. "I just wanted to apologize."

Zoe's brows furrowed. "What?" She said again, softer.

Ally looked down and rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry I tried to stop you…and did. I just really care about you. I've noticed I got a little clingy with you and my other friends and treated you like you were defenseless."

Zoe sighed. "I'm sorry, too."

Ally nodded quietly. "I accept your apology."

"Me too."

Ally smiled. "I can't imagine having to go one without you if anything happened and I'm sure you feel the same way about me." She paused. "But you know what, after I thought about it for a bit, I decided it was better to take some chances and go for it."

"Some risks are worth it." Zoe said.

"But only if you know what you're getting into." Ally replied. "That's why I couldn't let you leave now. We don't really know what's happening to the Programs disappearing and how to find them. I'm pretty sure Clu's behind it but even that's not official yet." She locked eyes with Zoe. "It's important to know some of that stuff first."

Zoe slowly nodded and sighed. Ally was right. Who knows what could have possibly happened if she left without knowing anything?

"Okay." She whispered.

Ally smiled warmly. "Okay."

Beck opened the door and poked his head out. "Hey, everything alright?" He looked up the staircase where the two girls were standing.

Ally grinned. "We're all good."

Beck nodded. "Good."

* * *

**Good, good. Nothing's better than seeing two friends make up. Believe me, I'd know.  
**

**Next chapter may be a bit more...interesting. You're going to see a little bit of dark thoughts from one of the "good guys," a little surprise from one of the characters, and a little more action. :P**

**Have a good one, guys. TRON LIVES! Toodles ;)**


	4. Just Got Serious

**Greetings, Programs! Happy Tron Tuesday :)  
This is the chapter in which there'll be that little "surprise." You'll know it when you see it...**

* * *

**Chapter 4 – Just Got Serious**

Ally's POV

She turned and looked at Zoe. "Glad to have cleared stuff up, pal."

Zoe raised an eyebrow. "Not so fast. You canceled my mission for this one. I want in on this operation."

Ally was a little taken aback but smirked. "Alright then, fine. Like they say; the more, the merrier."

They laughed together and went back into the meeting room. Everyone inside looked like they all had a conversation of their own and watched intently as the two Specials reentered.

Zoe looked at Liz and grinned ear to ear. "I'm in."

She smirked. "I knew you would, which is why I reserved a spot in our little group just for you."

Zoe chuckled. "Like old times…"

"Yeah."

Ally looked at Beck. "Too bad I never worked under Tron. I bet he would've been awesome."

Everyone laughed. "Yeah, sure." Zoe said. "He's like…the BEST when it comes to help relieve Programs of their fears."

Reni pinched her lips together at the remark but said nothing.

Ace laughed obnoxiously. "That was my FAVORITE memory! Zoe, you looked totally ridiculous."

Zoe shot him a pointed look. "I'll make you look ridiculous!"

Beck groaned. "Come on, you guys. Do you honestly have to fight like this?"

Reni glanced at Beck and her eyes softened. He looked at her. "What? It's true, you know." He mumbled.

Ace looked down. "No, you just…you just act a lot like him when we're like this."

"Oh." Beck looked down.

Zoe gave Beck a coy smile. "Nah don't worry, that's a good thing. It seems at the moment we really need a "Tron figure" around here."

Ally smiled. "Well I'm glad we're not fighting over something else. But when should we decide to make ourselves comfortable in Clu's base?"

Liz thought for a moment. "Next cycle. We're in a hurry."

"For what?" Beck asked.

She looked at Beck gravely. "We need to resolve these mysterious disappearances, firstly. And most importantly, we need to bring down Clu as soon as possible."

"Well, why don't we see if some of these Programs that went missing aren't in the Games or something? So we can at least take a few names off the list." Emi said.

Ally glanced at her. "What?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, I'm not trying to be like Aden and criticize anyone but maybe there aren't as many missing Programs as we thought."

"And we don't even know where Cassie or Valor is." Sylvie pointed out.

Evelyn studied them. "Alright, Emi, you'll be stationed at the Coliseum to check and see if anyone got themselves into trouble."

"For how long?" Emi asked.

She shrugged. "As long as you feel necessary." Evelyn turned to Liz. "You're plan is well thought through?"

Liz nodded.

"Good. I trust they're safe in your hands then." She nodded to Liz's team and stood up. "I believe this meeting is adjourned, yes?" She glanced at Ally, who agreed. "Alright then, have a pleasant cycle, everyone."

Everyone that attended the meeting immediately headed for the door to either complete an assignment of sorts or go back to their apartment to relax in their down time.

Beck looked at Ally and took off his mask. "So, you and Zoe made up? Everything's fine?"

She nodded. "Yeah, we're bundles of happiness now."

He laughed. "That's good. You don't ever want to lose a friend." An awkward silence worked its way between the only two Programs in the room.

Ally cleared her throat. "So…you have everything you need for this mission?"

Beck checked his pocket for the tool his friend Bodhi gave him. He'd told her about his friend that was mercilessly derezzed by a soldier when Tesler took over. He also vaguely mentioned how it broke when Tron was fighting Cyrus.

He said it took a while to find the broken pieces and use a similar recoder to put it back together.

Of course, if Ally had lost a friend like Beck had, she'd have gone to such measures as well to preserve the only thing left of that friend. Almost any Program with actual feelings would, really.

She wondered how Zed and Mara managed to cope with the loss. Did they talk with Able?

Ally felt a twinge of pain. She only met Able once and immediately liked him. But Beck told her how Dyson derezzed him at the Garage when Clu ordered for his search.

"Yeah," Beck replied, drawing Ally out of her thoughts. "How about you?"

"All I need is to change my uniform a bit." She said indifferently. "I'd better start liking the color orange – I'm gonna be surrounded by it for a long time."

"And yellow…" Beck added. Ally smirked at him. "Yeah…not helping really." He rubbed the back of his neck.

Ally pursed her lips. "How do you think Zed and Mara are doing right now?" She asked quietly.

Beck took a long time to answer. "…Whatever it is probably beats the ultimate boredom we've encountered." He attempted joke. Beck quickly cleared his throat. "Probably just following their Programming. Like they always have."

Ally placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, I'm proud that you, a simple mechanic, made it this far despite the odds." She firmly squeezed his deltoid. "Not to mention this Special mechanic is very, very strong…and good looking." Ally added with a sly grin, a small attempt to get him to smirk.

It worked better than she thought.

Beck glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yes," Ally reclined on a couch and straightened her legs across the cushions, crossing them. Beck crossed the room and sat on the same couch

Right on top of her legs.

"Ah!" Ally closed her eyes and laughed. Beck just relaxed on the couch regularly with her shins under his knees.

He glanced at her with a knowing smile. "What? What is it?" He asked.

Ally leaned forward and smacked his shoulder. "You know what!" She shot back with a playful grin and grabbed his white clad shoulders to shove him off the couch.

Beck rubbed his head and eyed her. "And the creature begins to show itself for what it really is." He narrated. Beck knew that was crossing the line but Ally's been so dead-eyed for the past number of MylaCycles and wasn't having much fun lately.

Her mouth fell open. "Oh, this creature really will show itself!" She swung her legs off the couch and onto the ground. Her wavy, sandy brown hair and green eyes glamour changed to blonde hair with red tips and blue eyes. Exactly how she looked when she came into existence, also how Beck saw her back in Neon.

Beck grasped her ankle and yanked her off her seat on the couch. She yelped and landed hard on her back. "That does it!" She sat up and wrapped the crook her arm snugly around Beck's neck and used her other arm to keep it in place while she jumped on his back.

Of course, Ally wasn't cutting off his air – that was really playing dirty and he didn't push her that far…yet. She laughed as Beck threw himself against walls to try and dislodge her with no avail.

He stood in the center of the room, panting while Ally was still on his back, grinning like an idiot. Beck unexpectedly threw his head back and smacked it into hers. Ally blinked rapidly and shook her head to try and recover as Beck ran her into yet another wall and managed to get her to falter.

Beck grabbed her arm that was wrapped loosely around his neck and completely detached her from him. He turned around and backed her into a wall, holding her there with his victorious smirk.

But Ally was smirking too.

He was late to hear the beeping. Beck's eyes widened and he stared at Ally, who mouthed "I win." And flickered her pretty eyelashes.

His jaw dropped as the countdown stopped and Ally pried herself out of his grip with a satisfied expression. "You would've either been knocked out or blown up." She said indifferently as Beck drew his disk and yanked the dead grenade off.

"Really? You had to go this far?" He held it up for her to see and gave her a look. Ally folded her arms and leaned against a wall.

"Trust me that was just sparring." Her face turned serious. "And there're some Programs out there still that would go to even further extremes than that."

Beck pursed his lips, showing he agreed. "I'm out of practice."

Ally smiled. "Don't worry; I can help you with that."

Beck threw the dead grenade at Ally's arm. "Sure, let's do it."

Ally pocketed the grenade and drew her disk. "Then let's bump the sparring up a notch."

…

Liz's POV

"Horrible." She said to her reflection. Her purple eyes were focused on her longer than usual hair. Liz had strictly kept it at chin length since she could remember. But after she quit being a double agent and left Clu, she hasn't had enough time to maintain her usual style. The straight brown locks now almost reached her shoulders.

She was amazed no one had mentioned anything to her yet.

Liz drew her disk and activated it. Cautiously, she lifted the lit up edge to her head. It was difficult to cut short hair with a disk – one wrong move and she'd have some nasty scars. So far, she considered herself lucky. One wrong move and –

Zoe ran in. "LIZ!"

"Ah!" Liz yanked her disk away from her head and glared at Zoe. "WHAT?"

Zoe backed away. "Uhhh…" She pointed her thumb behind her. "Someone's here to see you."

_Someone's here to see me? Me?_ She furrowed her eyebrows and put her disk away. "Who?"

Zoe shrugged. "I forgot his name but he's a mechanic. You guys know each other."

Liz's mouth fell open and she ran past Zoe. "'Kay, thanks!"

Zoe went puzzled. "Uh, hey! Wait up!" She took off running after her friend. "You don't even know where he is!"

Liz skidded to a stop. "Oh…that's right."

Dash jumped out of a closet behind her and attacked her with a hug. "SURPRISE!"

She swore her very soul nearly jumped out of her skin to dissolve into code. Liz let out a loud shout of surprise. "Eeek!" She twisted around and punched his shoulder hard. "You jerk! That was almost the death of me!" She said, still catching her breath from the unexpected jump scare.

Dash and Zoe were still laughing from their fun and high-fived each other. "That was good, that was really good." Zoe said with a large smile and wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm done here. Have a good one, you two." She patted Liz's shoulder firmly and went upstairs to her room.

Liz turned to Dash. "So…what are you doing here?" She asked with a pleasant grin.

He unfolded his arms dramatically. "Surprise! I've been transferred here!"

"What's going on down here?" Beck asked as he came down the stairs. Liz's eyes widened and she made a cutting motion across her neck at Beck.

Dash, like the other mechanics (with the exception of Zed and Mara), didn't know Beck's little secret. So when he saw the missing coworker walking down the stairs unmasked and in the white suit, his face was a mask of complete shock.

Beck and Dash stared at each other in shock and surprise for nearly a Micro before Beck looked at Liz. "What's Dash doing here?"

Dash finally managed to grasp words. "Excuse me; I think I deserve to know why you decided to go completely missing!"

"Why do you think?" Beck asked. He didn't sound rude but his voice was soft, barely a whisper.

Liz sighed and looked down at the floor. "Tron trained Beck to be the Renegade. That's his big, obvious secret." She looked at Beck. "And Dash is here because he was transferred."

"Why?"

Dash shrugged. "I don't know. It was actually pretty random but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to see Tron City." He caught Liz's intense gaze. "And Liz." He added quickly.

Beck sighed. "Well, Zed and Mara are the only mechanics that know now…aside from you. It's important that this stays a secret."

Dash looked at Liz with the face that asked her why.

"Like Alpha, he doesn't want anyone to know who he really is of what he truly looks like." She shrugged. "If we make it out of this alive, some Programs want to live a normal life again – not being crowded by fans all the time and expected to take care of problems afterward."

"Okay, fair enough." Dash patted Beck's shoulder. "Your secret's completely safe with me."

Beck just stared at Dash. "You can't tell Copper, either." He said.

Dash rolled his eyes. "I knew that!" He said.

Liz looked at Beck; Beck raised an eyebrow at her before turning back to Dash. "Alright, whatever. Don't cause too much trouble." He shot Liz a knowing look. "I'll be around."

"Tell Al I said hi!" Liz called up after him as he walked back up the stairs. If Beck heard her on the off chance he wasn't in deep thought, he showed no acknowledgment.

Dash looked from where Beck was standing to Liz. He closed his eyes and gave her a wide smile – one that made him look utterly ridiculous.

Liz laughed and gave him a playful shove. "Stop it! I'll die from laughing!"

He chuckled and sat down in the nearest chair. "So, what've I been missing lately?"

"Next cycle, I'm going to lead an infiltration in Clu's base."

Dash raised both eyebrows in surprise. "Seriously?"

Liz smirked. "Yeah, I think I'm dependable."

He chuckled. "Ohhh…okay then." Dash said, unsuccessfully hiding a small smile.

Liz smacked the back of his head. "I know what you're thinking, so stop it." She said with a mock stern face.

"Can we go outside?" Dash asked as he turned and looked out the window.

She shook her head. "Sorry, it's curfew and I'm not in much of a mood to outrun Occupation lightcycles tonight."

"And yet the Coliseum is still open and loud." Dash observed as he stared outside.

Liz shrugged. "That's an exception but the point in Curfew is staying inside a building. In this City, you're either inside or out and that's when they choose to pick you up."

"I heard some of Clu's Soldiers have been disappearing here." Dash brought up.

Liz looked at him. "How- how'd you know that?"

Dash gave her a funny look. "Clu made an announcement because of that."

"Oh." Liz shrugged. "That's our doing. Ace and his little team of "noise makers" broke into one of Clu's secret warehouses or something and found a repurposing chamber."

"Really?" Dash asked. "So you guys have been using it to clean up the guards' code whenever you have the chance."

She closed her eyes. "Yeah. And other than that, things have gotten pretty quiet and uneventful."

"You look like you're gonna die of boredom."

"I'm gonna die of a lot of stuff." Liz agreed. "I'm doomed."

Dash chuckled. "Man, this place is weird."

Liz was quiet for a while. "Yeah," She eventually said.

Dash glanced at her. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it's just…Programs here have been randomly disappearing. No one here knows why or how but it's happening."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Weird. Is that why-"

"Yeah." Liz answered before Dash finished the question. "My group's going undercover to investigate a little bit."

"Well, I hope you find what you're looking for." Dash said. There was silence for a while.

"This is sort of a gloomy conversation." Dash commented. "How about something nice."

Liz thought for a moment. "We get at least 60 more supporters every Cycle. At this rate, we'll have our own little army within 5 HiloCycles." She grinned.

"Now that would be cool to see." Dash said.

"Definitely."

…

Evelyn's POV

She paced her room furiously.

Actually, it's all she's been doing other than energizing, sleeping, and attending meetings.

Oh, and wondering where the heck Cassis and Valor are. They've been missing for approximately 2 cycles now so everyone's assuming the worst – that they were either caught by Clu or derezzed…maybe both.

She made a hissing sound as she inhaled sharply through her teeth.

Clu.

She hated that Program so much that it was all she could do not to march out the door, straight to his headquarters and attack him in his own chambers.

"No, it needs to be elaborate." She said to herself. "Carefully thought through."

Ever since their loss after the ISO War, Evelyn spent every moment of her free time thinking about how she could force Clu to step down or at least pause/freeze for a moment to give them something very important…opportunity – whatever it takes to free the Grid.

And then…

She fantasized a lot about the pleasure and satisfaction she'd feel if she had at least a chance to drive her disk through him – to watch him fall apart piece by little piece. The Grid could be rid of the corrupted Program forever.

Evelyn wanted nothing more than that.

Maybe if she could achieve her goals, Flynn could finally come back and-

And…

She frowned. What would Flynn do? He's trapped here on the Grid, stuck unless someone else enters the digital world.

Maybe Flynn would take back his leadership (if it's even considered that) and help to restore peace. Try to put things back to the way they were before.

Evelyn held on to the tiniest sliver of hope that her history would be forgotten though…except to be the Program to strike down Clu.

Yeah, that story could stay alive…but everything else to vanish – her bad relationship with the now-dead dangerous psychopath, her horrible job with leadership…everything.

But the future will happen once present priorities were completed and/or solved. The main goal: Clu needed to be taken down. As soon as possible.

But how?

Evelyn tangled her fingers in her short hair and tugged a few times. She squeezed her eyes shut and brainstormed.

What could make Clu stop what he's doing, pay attention, and take what she says into consideration?

It has to be a way to effectively threaten –there's no other way but that. What would Flynn do? Well, he'd probably just say something to get her thinking…like he always does. What would he say though?

_You can't rule a place if there's no place to rule._

Her eyes shot open and glittered with pride. "Of course…" Her hands released her hair and she stood up, walking over to her dresser.

She opened one drawer after another, quickly searching through and tossing the useless stuff over her shoulder.

_It's here somewhere…_

She shut the drawer and opened another one, quickly searching through that one. She knew she didn't throw it away. Evelyn decided to keep it for some unknown reason – even she didn't quite understand why. For a trophy of sorts, maybe? Her hand brushed up against a small box.

Evelyn grabbed it and shut the drawer. She used her other arm to sweep across the surface and knock the rest of the stuff off – one of it being an empty glass that still contained a little bit of energy still. The glass broke upon impact with the ground and the liquid spilled all over.

Evelyn disregarded it though – she could clean up the mess later. She set the box on top of the smooth surface of the dresser and took the contents out of the box.

Up until now, she had no idea that the last thing she ever received from her ex-boyfriend could ever be of some use to her. Especially when he tried to use it in one of the most terrible ways possible.

"Guess I misjudged you horribly in some ways, Cyrus." She mumbled to no one in particular but herself and the memory of her ex-boyfriend. "Sorry." She sorted through the components of the disassembled device.

The one she took apart the night of Tron's battle with Clu. The very cycle she derezzed Cyrus into millions of little pieces.

And then she grabbed the remote he made and took it apart. But held onto it.

Why did she do that? What thoughts occurred to her when she kept the pieces?

That they'd give her a sense of pride from what she did?

According to Zoe, Cyrus claimed it was a remote detonator that would activate several bombs scattered across the Grid. Evelyn also heard Cyrus had also taken some of Zoe's pixels and used them as extra power to boost the explosions.

If Cyrus was really bent on destroying the entire Grid, this remote if reassembled, could be enough to get Clu's attention and get him to listen…maybe even convince him to stand down, if possible. That is, if he doesn't think she's bluffing.

Evelyn grabbed the pieces and began to reassemble the remote. Obviously no one would approve of this method of a plan but her entire race – the ISOS – were relying on her to avenge what Clu has done.

Plus there isn't going to be any simple method to stop this oppression. If this wicked, corrupted Program uses brute force, so will she.

"You're not the only one playing dirty, Clu." Evelyn said with a smirk as she put together the last pieces of the detonator.

There was a sudden knock on the door. Sylvie. "Evelyn? Evelyn, are you okay? We heard a ruckus up here and then it all went quiet."

_Uh oh._ Evelyn quickly put the detonator back in the box and tossed it in the drawer. "Um, yeah." Evelyn said, sounding a little annoyed. "Just…flipped out a little. That's all."

Sylvie opened the door, followed by Kym and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Some flip out…" She muttered, eyeing the fellow ISO. "You sure everything's fine?"

"Just…jittery." Evelyn admitted. "But I'm worried about Cassie and Valor – they're still missing, right?"

Sylvie nodded grimly. "Yeah, but taking out anger and other turmoil by making a mess isn't really the best method to cool down." She said as she knelt down and started cleaning up. Kym bent down to help. "Because when you're cleaning up, you get angry again from having to get rid of the mess you made."

Evelyn sighed. "I suppose you're right." She opened her closet door and grabbed a vacuum to clean up the broken glass. She **did** feel a little irritation for having to clean up her mess, even though she didn't cause it all entirely out of anger.

"I know what you should do." Sylvie said, pausing and standing up, as if she knew how Evelyn felt. "You need to break something."

"Already have." Evelyn nodded at the glass and started the vacuum.

Kym snatched the vacuum from Evelyn and started cleaning up. "Go." He said, pointing to the door.

"He's got this." Sylvie said, guiding Evelyn out.

"Wait." Evelyn protested. "It's still curfew."

Sylvie shrugged. "It's over in a few Micros. We just need to be careful until then. I know this place that's great to be alone in. But it gets crowded at certain times so we need to go now. You can take out your anger there." She smiled gently at Evelyn as they stepped outside. "Break something."

Evelyn didn't know what Sylvie was talking about until they arrived at the desired location. It was a small building completely made of glass and mirrors.

She turned to Sylvie, who now had her mask on. "And people are going to be okay with me breaking this?" She asked.

She shook her head, allowing herself to chuckle. "Not really. But it'll be an "accident." You're technically blind." Sylvie pulled out a strip of cloth to tie around the eyes. "And you know why you'll feel happy for breaking bits and pieces of this building?" She asked.

"Why?" Evelyn asked.

Sylvie grinned. "Because this was the very first building Clu designed."

Evelyn froze. "Really?"

"Yeah. Now let's start throwing stuff before curfew ends. Remember that Programs like visiting this place when curfew's over." She pressed a rock into Evelyn's right palm. "Alright, now aim."

Evelyn laughed. "Seriously? This is challenging!"

"I'll guide you, don't worry. We'll laugh when you finally manage to hit something. Now aim."

Evelyn sighed and drew her arm past her head and threw the rock. She heard the echo as it landed on the solid ground.

"A little to the right – actually far to the right…by a kilometer." Sylvie said.

"Hey, it's not easy to be blind!" Evelyn shot back with a grin. "Rock me."

Sylvie handed her another stone. Evelyn threw the second one and obviously missed again.

"You were close but you were still a little to the left."

Evelyn sighed. "Okay." Sylvie handed her another rock. Evelyn threw that one and heard a loud crash.

Sylvie clapped. "Bulls eye! You hit the largest window!"

Evelyn furrowed an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Nah, not really. It's medium. But hey, apparently third time's a charm."

"Heh, yeah." Evelyn got another rock and threw it, managing to smash another window.

"Hey!" A bright light showed through the blindfold on Evelyn's head and she froze. "What-what are you doing?!"

Sylvie cleared her throat and stepped forward, still wearing her mask. "Excuse me, good soldier. This building was rightfully the target of rocks thrown by a blind person due to anger issues with Clu." She patted his shoulder. "Deal with it!"

As she turned to walk away, the guard drew his disk. "I can't let you leave." He said. "Not until you're sentence by Clu for what you've done."

"Technically, that was my blind friend." Sylvie pointed at Evelyn.

Evelyn, still wearing the blindfold, tossed a rock at his head, which made its mark. "Direct hit!" The guard turned back to Evelyn just to get punched in the face by her. As he stumbled back, holding his nose, Sylvie grabbed Evelyn's hand and ran.

No one bothered to chase them. Probably because of how weird that event was.

Sylvie made sure no one was watching them or following when they got back to the apartment before they went inside. Evelyn pulled off the blindfold and started laughing.

"We should do that more often." She said as she started catching her breath.

Sylvie removed her mask. "Well, we can't do it all the time or someone might recognize you. Plus we're trying to get everyone to lay low and stay hidden."

Evelyn groaned. "Alright, fine."

Kym walked down the stairs and fixed his eyes on Evelyn. "All clean." He flashed a small smile, showing some teeth. His grin disappeared as soon as it came. "But just try to keep your temper under control. You make really bad messes." He then walked into the kitchen to get some energy.

_You have no idea._ Evelyn thought as she turned and went back up to her room. "Fun's over. Time to get serious."

* * *

**Yeah...Evelyn's been planning revenge for a long time...please don't kill me :P  
**


	5. Under the Cover

**Greetings, Programs! Happy Tron Tuesday :)  
Anyone see the lunar eclipse last night or is going to? It was gorgeous! I'm really excited where this plot line's going so far and I hope you will to. Now...let's get to it!**

* * *

**Chapter 5 – Under the Cover**

Courtney's POV

She felt no qualms for tossing the black guard disks into the Sea of Simulation. It was for their own good and Aurora did not speak nor take any action against her.

Therefore, it wasn't a bad decision; not the best but not the worst either.

"WHERE TO?" The byte asked. "WE NEED SOMEPLACE TO STAY DURING CURFEW 'CAUSE I'M NOT FEELING LIKE MAKING NEW FRIENDS WITH THE ORANGE GUYS AT CERTAIN TIMES."

Courtney chewed on her lip as she thought about Aurora's question.

"AND WILL YOU CUT THAT OUT ALREADY? YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HAVE LIPS IF YOU KEEP IT UP."

Right. Still trying to break the habit.

Courtney released her lip. "Uhh…we could look for more caves in the Outlands." She suggested. "I doubt curfews are enforced in boundary areas."

"GREAT…MORE ROCKS." She grumbled.

"Well I'm not exactly an expert at hiding in plain sight. I'm anything but plain. It wouldn't take too much effort from Clu or his soldiers to track me down and bring me back to that nightmare of oblivion!"

The byte allowed a pause before replying. "You learned to get your memories back, right? That's a little less to worry about."

"I'm not trying to get caught, Aurora, I'm trying to stay hidden and it won't be easy. Besides, we both know that if Clu doesn't find me, then my friends will if I'm not careful."

Courtney sat down by the water's edge and crossed her legs, remaining silent. She sighed and closed her eyes, focusing on the tranquil sound of ripples and little waves.

Aurora levitated close by, keeping watch and humming some more – one of the songs that Courtney said she liked. As her companion gradually gathered her wits, Aurora noticed moving shadows.

The byte stopped humming and moved closer to the moving shadows.

"What is it?" Courtney asked, opening one eye and turning around.

Aurora moved closer to her target. "Uh, I think I see something. But I'm sure it's nothing concerning." She quickly adds. "Probably just something knocked over by the wind."

Courtney unfolded her legs and stood up. "Let's look then."

Aurora made what sounded like a sigh and kept going in the direction where she thought she saw movement. In a split nano, she quickly dashed towards the spot.

Courtney saw nothing when she looked.

Courtney exhaled in relief. "Guess it's nothing to worry about." She furrowed her eyebrows. "We're probably just paranoid after what happened earlier this cycle."

"…YEAH, MAYBE" Aurora agreed. She slowly followed Courtney along the edge near the sea towards the Outlands. "YOU KNOW WHAT I THINK?" She asked. "I THINK I LIKE YOU CHOICE OF LIVING SPACE NOW. NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT, IT SOUNDS A LOT SAFER. LESS PEOPLE AROUND."

Courtney smiled. "Really?"

"OF COURSE. BESIDES, WHAT'S THE CHANCE THAT ANYONE WILL LOOK FOR SOMEONE THEY DON'T KNOW IS AROUND AND ACTUALLY FINDING YOU?"

The Program stopped and raised an eyebrow. "Is everything okay, Aurora?" She asked.

"YES, WE'RE GOOD." The byte answered quickly.

Courtney lowered her voice. "Someone was back there?" She asked. "I'm right, aren't I?"

Aurora hesitated. "YES, BUT IT WASN'T A THREAT." She too, quieted down when she spoke. "IT'S JUST THAT PERSON YOU RESCUED FROM THE RECOGNIZER. I THINK I SCARED HER OFF."

"Who?" A voice spoke from behind Courtney.

She let out a squeak of surprise and turned around to face the Program, removing her disk at a miraculous speed and activating it. "Who are you?" Courtney demanded.

The Program quickly lifted her hands with her fingers spread wide, claiming innocence. "I'm unarmed and vulnerable." She paused. "I wonder if it was smart to say that…" she wondered aloud.

Courtney slowly put her disk back. "You still didn't answer my question." She said.

"Well I know who **you** are." She pointed out. "You called yourself a friend so I will say the same." She looked at Courtney curiously. "Hey, I know you!" She said. "You're that Special back from the ISO War…and the Argon battle."

Courtney's face tensed up. "Oh?" She asked.

"Yeah, you're the one that gave Tron another chance to fight longer against Clu." She pointed out. "Although…I heard you're wanted by decree of the rebel Council; not only Clu now." She smiled kindly. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna turn you in, though. I mean, I owe you **big time**! You saved me from rectification!"

"You described that as repurposing?" Courtney inquired.

The Program bit her lip and leaned forward to whisper. "Yeah. At least, that's what I heard. We should probably discuss this more behind a closed door though, shall we?"

Aurora took the initiative to step into the conversation. "WHERE ARE WE GOING, EXACTLY?"

"To my apartment." She replied easily. "I live alone but if you don't have a place to stay, you can room in with me." She shrugged. "I don't mind. Oh, by the way." A small smile tugged on the corners of her lips. "My name is Jude." She pursed her lips, as if she was making a hard decision. "I think it should also be fair to mention that I'm an old friend of Alpha, like you."

Courtney looked at Jude. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but we haven't been in direct contact recently. I have, however, been to their secret warehouse meetings where they gather new recruits."

"So you work for them?" Courtney asked, surprisingly not nervous but almost reassured by this calm Program.

"The Resistance Movement? No, I assist when possible but that's all." Jude's eyes widened. "Hey, wait a nano! I just realized I have valuable information!"

"What?" Courtney narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

Jude frowned, appearing to be thinking hard. "I think there was some sort of announcement from Alpha a few cycles ago regarding disappearing Programs." She pursed her lips. "I think I was going to be one of them. I need to get that news to them sometime."

"Not now?" Courtney asked. "Why?"

Jude thought for longer than necessary. "Well, first of all, it'll be curfew soon. Second," She paused. "I forgot." She admitted. Courtney frowned in confusion. _What kind of Program forgets what they're about to say?_

"Hey, should we get you settled in my apartment if you're staying with me?"

"YEAH, SURE. LET'S GO THEN. DON'T WANT TO BE CHASED BY GUARDS A SECOND TIME." Aurora answered for Courtney, who turned to Aurora with a weird look. "RELAX, YOU'LL BE FINE." She said quietly.

"That's not the point." Courtney said back. She turned to Jude. "Are-are you okay?" She asked.

Jude frowned. "Why do you ask?" She gasped and her eyes widened in realization. "I'm doing it again, aren't I?" She asked.

"What?" Courtney asked.

"I…have slight memory and distraction issues." She said. "See, during the ISO War, when I tried to rescue some ISOS trapped in a room, the building I was in exploded." Her eyebrows furrowed. "I got buried under all the rubble, my head got badly injured – permanent damage, and…" She sighed. "None of the other ISOS survived."

Courtney stared at her. "You fought in the ISO War?"

"I participated." She corrected. "I never fought – besides, I'm incapable of that now." She pointed at her head. "Bad damage. I guess my coordination's a little off as well."

"Uh, how'd you get out of the rubble? When you were buried?" Courtney asked. "Sorry, it's just curiosity – you don't have to answer."

Jude was silent for a while. Too long. Courtney lowered her head in shame. "Sorry."

"No no, it's fine." Jude said quietly. "I'm just trying to remember." She pinched her lips together as she walked. Courtney followed. "I remember!" She proclaimed. "Occupation Soldiers dug me out and took me to the closest base for immediate medical attention."

Jude touched the side of her head and Courtney caught a glimpse of an old gash (read: hole) in her head through her short, pixie cut black hair. "Apparently the medics I hung out with were amateurs because they did a sucky job." She remarked.

Courtney allowed a small laugh to escape her lips. The corner of Jude's mouth visible twitched and she stopped in front of a building. "My apartment." She told Courtney as she walked up the steps and tapped in the code for the door lock. The door beeped and there was a small click; the red light next to the keypad turned green and Jude opened the door. She gestured Courtney and Aurora inside. "After you." She insisted.

Courtney gratefully entered the quaint building, relieved to be hidden from any potential public eyes. Aurora remained silent and took it upon herself to explore the internal structure of the building.

Jude walked into a living room and sat down on a chair. Courtney sat down on the floor, facing her. "If you don't mind me asking," She started. "What happened after you were taken to the medics?"

Jude's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to remember. "I…can't recall." She grimaced. "Sorry, but I'll tell you if it comes back to me."

"It's fine, don't worry." Courtney smiled at Jude. "So…when do you plan to meet with Alpha and share that "valuable information" with them?" She asked.

"The what?" Jude looked puzzled.

"The information regarding the mysterious disappearances you told me about." Courtney specified. "You said they made a recent announcement about it and has been deemed extremely important."

Jude's eyes widened in realization. "Oh! Right, right." She said, frowning. "I'm tired and exhausted and I'm pretty sure you are, too so why don't we just call it a cycle and fall asleep during curfew, huh? Tell you what, I'll stop by them next cycle or whenever I can to share the news but uh…you may have to remind me." She tapped the side of her head.

Courtney quickly nodded. "Sure, no problem."

Aurora came back inside the room. "Nice place." She commented.

Jude beamed. "Why thank you. There's a guest bedroom next to mine upstairs." She stood up. "You guys can settle in up there." She looked at Aurora. "I'll see if I can find some sort of stand or pedestal for you to rest on."

"Just a Bit Pedestal would be okay with me." Aurora said. "I'm only a bit bigger." She said in a half-joking manner. But if Jude got the joke, she didn't bother to respond.

Jude nodded. "Yeah, I got a Bit Pedestal. It's actually up there if I remember correctly." Courtney and Aurora followed Jude upstairs to the guest room. She opened the door. "Yep, there it is." Aurora went to the pedestal and levitated a few centimeters above it, looking comfortable. "I'll let you get settled in here and leave you to rest." Jude smiled at Courtney. "See you next cycle."

Courtney smiled sweetly back. "I can't express how thankful I am for your hospitality, Jude. Thank you."

Jude wore a strange expression as she said "Any other Special would've done it."

Courtney's eyes widened. "You're?"

Jude nodded. "I believe you are, too." She said. "I thought I saw you around the Special's District back before the ISO War." She paused and added "I haven't forgotten that." She stepped out of the room. "Have a good night." She shut the door.

Courtney turned to Aurora. "Wow," She whispered. "My kind's everywhere."

"MORE THAN YOU THINK." Aurora remarked. "AND I HAVE A FEELING WE'LL BE SEEING MORE REALLY SOON. YOU SHOULD REST WHILE YOU CAN."

"Yeah, you're right. As always." Courtney made her way over to the small pull out bed that was sort of like a shelf. "Neat." She commented and lay down on her back on the "shelf bed." She closed her eyes and willed herself to finally relax and go into a much needed sleep mode.

…

Sam's POV

He had it all planned out. What he'd do this year for his annual prank in favor of the Flynn Lives movement. But it was mostly a way to vent the stress of dealing with people (read: Alan Bradley) "encouraging" or pressing him to take back his Dad's company. ENCOM.

_I won't do it!_ He thought fiercely. _At least, not yet._ He was 27; he was young – hardly mature or even capable enough to run a million dollar company. Sam knew he could always do it later in life. When he's older and wiser.

Maybe even after he goes back to Caltech and finishes getting a degree.

Besides, just thinking about Encom reminded him of his Dad. His old man that left him when he was 6 years old. And with his mom already gone, buried in a cemetery, he was left in the care of his Grandparents on his Dad's side.

But Grandpa died when he was 12, Grandma later passed away when he was 17, leaving him in the care of Alan Bradley and Lora for almost a year until he was 18, and even after that, they've checked up on him to help him out when they can, see how he was doing, and to also make sure he didn't disappear like his Dad.

_I'm not like my Dad._ Sam thought angrily. _That guy was crazy, delusional. He told me stories about this place called The Grid and made me think it was real. He was obsessive over a simple fantasy – a digital frontier that doesn't exist._

But Sam could still feel it. The pull towards Encom. Maybe not the urge to take control but to indirectly get involved with what they're doing. Because they definitely didn't have the same minds of Kevin – giving things away for free and still managing a good profit. For them, it was all about selling and getting profit.

Giving things away for free disappeared with his Dad.

And Sam highly disliked the board for that.

There was, however, a question that no matter how many times it was asked, it remained unanswered.

If Sam wanted nothing to do with Encom or his Father, why'd he lean towards inspiring and helping out the Flynn Lives movement?

Dozens of people from the press have asked him that question nearly a thousand times but he'd managed to change the subject to something else, avoiding the question.

Why?

Because even Sam didn't know the answer. He just did it.

Sam pulled out his cell phone and turned on its camera. "Hey, Marv, come over here." He called.

Marv, his dog, opened a sleepy eye and lifted his head up slightly from his dog bed. Sam whistled and Marv stood up. He finally ran over when Sam showed him a piece of leftover steak from dinner.

Sam started recording the video just before Marv came to a stop in front of him and barked, begging for the treat. Sam recorded Marv for about 10 seconds before stopping and then gave the meat to Marv.

Sam spent the rest of the Day editing the recording, fixing it to keep repeating when it's shown. Then he started getting the rest of the supplies needed for tonight's stunt.

If he does this right, it could knock all the other pranks he's done straight out of the ball park.

…

Beck's POV

"You ready?" Ally asked Beck, who was still altering his suit. For obvious reasons, he wasn't going to alter his suit to orange minimal circuits – Tron had taken on that attire along with his infamous but slightly more inconspicuous emblem.

So instead, Beck changed his white circuits to orange – keep it simple and pretend he was repurposed or something.

Ally was already dressed in her typical disguise: standard attire of an Occupation medic, which consisted of orange primary circuits and the usual neon green secondary circuits. And, of course, her usual high heels.

Beck looked at Ally, who also decided to change her facial features to her natural appearance: dark blue sparkly eyes and blond shoulder length hair with an inch of the tips colored a vibrant red.

"Do you think it's best to look like that?" Beck asked. "I mean, that's your natural appearance – you're going to look like that if we prevail in this conflict and live normal lives."

"It's better to be seen as "Ally" than "Alpha" if I'm required to remove my mask under necessary circumstances." Ally explained.

Beck frowned. "But seriously, are you only limited to those two appearances?"

Ally thought for a moment. "No, I suppose not." She eventually said. "I could try something new, if you want." She drew her disk and looked through the menus.

First, she colored her hair hot pink and styled it as a chin-length, shaggy bob with heavy bangs and short, razor-cut layers. She changed her eye color to dark brown.

Beck eyed the design and raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He asked.

Ally grinned and reattached her disk to its holder. It took a moment before the changes to her features to occur. "What? You don't like it?" Ally asked mockingly.

Beck had to admit the new look on Ally was startling but definitely attractive. Obviously the strange hair color would attract attention but that's exactly what everyone would expect Ally (or Alpha) NOT to do.

So she's assumedly safe…for now.

Liz knocked on the door before entering. "Hey, you guys ready to go-ooh!" Her eyes widened and she stared at Ally. "Wha-what did you do?!" She nearly shouted.

Ally grinned. "Do you like it?"

"Like it?" Liz looked at Ally disbelievingly. "I LOVE it!" She grinned and hugged her. "You should do crazy stuff like that more often."

Zoe stood in the middle of the doorway and cleared her throat loudly. "We should probably get going now." She said sternly.

Beck nodded. "Right. But where's everyone else?"

"Outside." Zoe answered bluntly. "I'll be outside, too." She turned and walked downstairs. The door opened and then closed, indicating that Zoe left the house.

"Alright then," Liz said. "Let's get going!"

As the trio came outside, they saw who the rest of the team was: Ace, Zoe, Reni, Paige, Sky, and Dallas, including Beck, Ally, and Liz.

"Eight of us." Liz remarked. "Great! We can do easy headcounts."

Ace glanced at Ally and raised an eyebrow. "Nice hairdo." He mumbled.

Ally glanced at a now masked Beck and decided to follow his lead. "Whatever." She said, pulling out her baton. "Let's just be on our way."

The ride to Clu's headquarters was quiet. Liz explained to everyone that Google was a big participant in planning. He looked into the database of 8 soldiers that went missing but weren't reported yet – as they haven't missed any "shifts" yet.

Google then hacked into each profile and changed their pictures to ones that matched the team's faces. Ally's was recently changed again, courtesy of Google receiving word of her new appearance. He also distributed every individual's ID number.

And to top it all off, 7 members of the group were lucky enough to be replacements of a single squad. The lone Program, Ally, was another story.

Because Ally was identified as an Occupation medic, she would be by herself in a private clinic throughout her time here. Obviously, Beck wasn't fond of the idea of her being alone but it wasn't his decision. But to make him feel a little better, Google could arrange for him and Ally to share the same quarters so it's easier to check on each other after "working."

But before getting inside the actual building, they had to go through a security unit that was temporarily set up around the building.

It was clear that the headquarters took a nasty blow. But from who?

Beck squinted through his mask at the giant hole blown into the lower portion of the building and caught the small sight of white paint. His eyes widened as he read the large words "ISOS Rise" that was in the middle of being removed but was still easy to read. Obviously, because of its large size, it'd take a long time before it's completely gone.

A guard that stood in front of a makeshift gate waved for the 8 Programs to stop. He looked at masked Ally first. "Identify yourself." He commanded, signaling for her to also remove her mask.

Ally showed her bright pink hair with pride. "Alisa," She said, perfectly rehearsed. "Identification number MB0152." She said like she's always known it.

The guard searched her up in the database. Beck just hoped all the changes were saved soon enough.

He almost sighed in relief when the guard waved her past. "You're clear. Keep moving; you'll be redirected to your quarters by another Program due to some…issues."

He then turned to Beck. "Identify yourself." He said.

Beck's throat felt kind of dry and it was difficult to utter a word. But when he removed his mask and spoke, he sounded casual, luckily. "Barclay. Identification number JK8471."

The guard looked him up and nodded. "You're clear." He turned and pointed to Ally, who was already being directed by another guard. "Follow her and that guard over there. You should have no problem finding your quarters."

Beck nodded and rushed to catch up with Ally, who was now continuing on foot. He closed his bike back into a baton and put his mask back on. He was relieved that no one recognized his face, which was a good thing.

He made it to Ally's side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders; she still hadn't put her mask back on. "Hey," He said.

Ally looked at him and smiled. "Hey," She said back.

The guard led them to an elevator and pressed a button. The doors closed behind them and quickly scaled up the building. It then came to a stop and the doors opened up again.

They followed the guard down a narrow, orange-lit hallway until he came to a stop in front of a door. He pressed the button next to the panel and the door slid open. "This will be your new chambers as your other one in the lower section of the building was destroyed."

Beck raised his eyebrows under his mask. _Wow, convenient._

Ally smiled at the guard. "Thanks."

He didn't reply as he turned on his heel and went straight back to the elevator. Beck then ushered her into the room and shut the door behind them.

"Nice guy." Ally said dryly as she sat down on the one bed in the room.

Beck folded his arms and shrugged. "He was probably repurposed." He said indifferently.

Ally nodded slowly. "Yeah…" She furrowed her eyebrows. "Hey, did you see that paint on the side of the building?" She asked. "Do you think Cassie and Valor were behind that?"

He sighed. "Probably. We should report that to Evelyn immediately. She's worried sick over them." He pulled out a small communicator Google gave to him and tapped in the message to send. Google would immediately pass it on to Evelyn once he received it.

"I hope they're okay." Ally said. "They were pretty swell people."

Beck allowed a small smile. "Yeah, I suppose. But Cassie was kind of crazy though."

Ally frowned. "Of course, they were behind what happened to the building." She sighed. "Those damages are very old so it happened at least a few cycles ago. So because they didn't make it back to base yet, we have to assume the worst. They're either dead or were captured."

Beck remained silent. There was nothing to say about that. Nothing at all.

Cassie and Valor were gone – probably for good – and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

…

Zoe's POV

She was assigned guard duty immediately after making it through security. The rest of the squad she was part of were divided and assigned elsewhere. And when she's done with her shift, someone will come by and lead her to her "new room." Apparently the rest of the members of her squad had new rooms too. In fact, a good portion of everyone's rooms were destroyed from the explosion that occurred several cycles ago.

But what happened to the lower portion of the building should be the least she's concerned of. She was guarding hundreds of rows of cells with several other guards. And being confined in the glowing orange walls were other Specials, defectors that were caught, prisoners of war and other resistors, and simple gangsters and criminals.

Not the kind of job she ever imagined herself doing – whether it was actual working under Tron's forces back in the good old days, or spying on the enemy.

Not quite so high and mighty after all.

Zoe sighed and folded her arms. She caught a glimpse of a color on her bandages that didn't quite belong-

Oh dear.

Her eyes widened. Zoe's bandages were still on. Unchanged. Meaning they still had that white and blue "paint" all over.

Well great…her bandaged were even more noticeable now. No wonder she was assigned a down low and super easy job. Probably wasn't supposed to "strain herself." But that stuff was way behind her.

In fact, she could remove the bandages now. They "healed" a little and are adapted, ready to be exposed. Of course, "healing" just meant that the injuries weren't quite so sensitive anymore.

And the thing was she didn't want to remove the bandages. The deep cuts in her forearms and the deep gash (read: hole) in the crook of her left elbow was completely hideous…not that she ever cared much about appearances.

But they just reminded her too much of how she first got them.

She shuddered when she thought of her experience of being tortured by Cyrus. In the dark. She pinched her lips together. She's always been afraid of the dark. And what happened with Cyrus just made her fear it more.

Of course, Zoe wasn't scared of Cyrus. He was dead now, anyway. Everything horrible he ever did caused her to fear more. But she directed it towards the dark. She was scared of nothing else.

Nothing.

One of the guards standing next to Zoe turned towards her. "You okay?" She asked hesitantly.

Zoe slowly turned her masked face towards the Program, who looked down and nodded at her bandages. "Might want to get those changed." She advised. "It's okay to stop at the medical bay."

Medical bay…of course. She might see Alpha there and they could talk while she got new bandages.

And she felt it might be good to have something fresh over the scars.

"Alright." Zoe turned to leave. "I'll be right back."

She wound her way through the hallways to the medical bay. She pushed one of the main doors open and stepped into the bay. It was nearly empty and very quiet. Apparently not many soldiers get injured on the job like Programs in the Resistance Movement do.

A medic walked over to Zoe as she quickly looked across the room in search for Ally. She wasn't there. "Can I help you?" The medic asked.

Zoe snapped her attention to him. "Yes." She said quickly. "I'd like to see if I can get new bandages; preferably black."

He had her sit down on a cot and insisted that regulations required having the injuries examined before doing anything. Obviously, he knows he hasn't seen her before. "I'm just going to take a quick peek." He said as he started unwrapping the old, tattered, painted cloth.

As he finished unwrapping her left forearm, he inhaled sharply. Obviously he doesn't see scars all the time. Especially these.

Zoe had to admit, the old wounds weren't particularly pretty. There were both jagged and clean cuts from Cyrus's disk on both her arms. They went deep, thick, and long. And there were lots of them. But what's the most disturbing was the huge gash-

No, hole. The hole in the crook of her left elbow. She'd gotten that one from some kind of spinning blade.

Truthfully, the injuries could've looked better, but the old scars had an ugly dark crimson color to them. But that was because some kind of foreign viral or repurposing code of sorts contaminated her due to no covering when they should have been.

On the bright side, Specials were naturally immune to repurposing code and such – viruses haven't been tested (and probably never will). Even though the code didn't impact her mental or much of her physical capabilities, it didn't make the scars look all that appealing.

Wasn't her fault; she had no bandages available to her at the time. And she paid the price for it now. This was exactly how her scars were going to look for the rest of her life. Nothing could fix them now.

"So…mind telling me how this happened?" He asked carefully as he unwrapped the other bandage on her right forearm.

Zoe pursed her lips under her mask. "Torture." She kept it blunt. "A lovely gift from a psycho…along with minor contamination from a foreign code." She shrugged, like it really wasn't a big deal. "So…now I've got pretty colors." She added dryly.

That kept the medic quiet for a while. "You should probably see what Clu can do." He suggested. "When he has some free time." He added quickly. "He's a busy Program but may be able to help."

The corners of Zoe's mouth turned down. "He knows how to heal Programs?" She asked.

"Well, the easiest method in general for healing injuries is repurposing but this looks like it requires more…delicate…treatment." He paused. "If possible."

"I wouldn't count on it." Zoe said dully. "These are old. Besides, I wouldn't want to waste our…" She almost choked on her own words in disgust. "Benevolent leader's time. I'll live. Bandages would be nice though."

"Of course." He picked up some fresh bandages and gently started wrapping her left arm. His nose scrunched up. "I can't imagine how painful it was to get those."

"Enough to never forget." Zoe said quietly. "But I'm not afraid of pain. As awful as it is, it shouldn't be something to fear. Experiencing pain is inevitable so it's better to waste your time worrying about other things."

"Then what are you afraid of?" He asked curiously.

Zoe remained silent.

"I'm scared of Grid Bugs." He admitted.

Zoe frowned. There was no way she'd share her fears with anyone working for the enemy. "Water." She lied. "I can't swim." Another lie. "I try to avoid it as much as possible. Including the sea."

The medic nodded. "The origination of where ISOs came from is both…" He paused, thinking for a moment. "Fascinating and terrifying." He said, as if agreeing with what he thought she was talking about. "I sometimes worry about that stuff, too."

Zoe didn't say anything after that. As soon as he finished wrapping up her arms, she stood up, nodded curtly at him in thanks, and walked out the door without looking back.

She kept going down the hallway at a quick pace while examining his handiwork. He was good. That guy must've spent a lot of his cycles in the past either practicing or actually applying bandages to wounded.

And he was surprisingly gentle. Zoe only ever knew of Programs in the past hastily applying what was needed so they could move on to another patient. She was used to the rough treatment she'd been given.

It wasn't like she had bad medics; it was just because every time she ever got injured, it was at a bad time at a bad place. Always.

And it seemed that being gentle wasn't in Tron's vocabulary list – it seemed even less of something he'd actually be capable of doing. Mostly because circumstances hardly ever demanded that of him.

But the medic's hands were soft.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Zoe didn't even know the guy and the first thing that comes to mind is soft hands?

"Ridiculous." She muttered as she reentered the prison.

Her fellow guard glanced at Zoe as she went back to her post. She eyed the bandages. "I see you met Myles." She commented. "He's great, isn't he?"

Zoe let out a short laugh. "He's the only medic that wraps bandages neatly?"

"Yep." She replied. "Everyone likes going to him for treatment because he's more thorough than the others."

Zoe glanced at the soldier. "You like him?"

She grunted. "Everyone likes him. Not like any Program would dare to take him for granted. Myles is one of the best."

Apparently Clu's soldiers don't care about personal feelings until they get time off to have fun.

As if she read Zoe's mind, she spoke again. "Hey, I have a whole Cycle off in three Cycles. Want to hang out in a club and drink?"

Zoe opened her mouth to automatically say no, but stopped herself and pondered over her options. She would get to have a little fun while getting close with the enemy. Tron would approve of that. "Okay." She said. "I guess I need to chill out a little anyway."

"Perfect." She said. "We'll have a great time." Zoe could hear the excited smile in her voice. The soldiers weren't really how she imagined them to be. She thought they'd be cold and detached completely, taking orders like robots.

Things haven't been how Zoe expected lately.

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**Anyone going to see Fleetwood Mac's tour this year? :) I heard it's gonna be awesome! Thanks for the reviews, guys. It means a lot to me :)**


	6. What The

**Happy Tron Tuesday...and Earth Day! XD How's everyone? I'm great. In fact, I'm gonna be pickin' up trash today. Anyone else doing something special today? Oh, and I also posted a new chapter here! I'll tell you guys what: things are going to get very strange starting here! ;P Hope ya like it.**

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**Chapter 6 – What The…**

Ally's POV

When she was told she'd be assigned as a medic in Clu's army while she was undercover, she thought she'd be more in her…comfort zone.

But Ally didn't like this job at all. She wasn't tending to wounded soldiers of Clu's army. She took care of prisoners that were viciously tortured but needed to be kept alive.

It was sickening.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by another groan of pain from the Program she was healing. The girl had one of her eyes gouged out. The other eye that was still intact was squeezed shut and her teeth gritted from the immense pain.

These soldiers really knew how to make this job tough. She could probably bring the eye back but it may never work exactly the same way again.

"Don't." The girl said. "Please don't." Ally looked at her.

She opened her one eye, filled with tears. "Just kill me. Please," A sob wracked her body. "I don't want to deal with this anymore. I-I don't have the information they're looking for." She broke down crying. "I don't want this anymore."

Ally stared at the Program that didn't look any older than her. She'd endured so much and was now begging for death.

The Special felt anger boil within her. They were torturing Programs ruthlessly for information or just for fun – most likely the latter for this poor girl. Ally was tempted to heal the Program and help bust her out.

She could do it. She knew she could, but she was supposed to be undercover and the risk would be too great. Her actions would put everything under lockdown and make their investigation a lot harder.

Besides, she was being watched at the moment.

Guards must've known that some medics would pity the victims and try to help them out so a lot of them were around to look over everyone's shoulder. Ally couldn't help this girl.

And she couldn't even talk to the prisoner. It's not what the other medics did so she'd stand out. So she just clenched her jaw, avoided eye contact with everyone, and didn't speak. She just got done what needed to be done so the guards could take the prisoners back to their cells for solitary confinement.

They were breaking them. Both the rebels they caught and the innocent Programs off the street.

Ally wanted to choke Clu so badly right now for what she had to do. For what all the other medics had to do. Frankly, they didn't seem to enjoy this any more than she was at the moment.

Beck would be shocked after she tells him what the guards had her do. Evelyn would be even more devastated.

The guards came and took away the girl whose eye she fixed and dropped off yet another Program.

This guy looked like he'd been whipped. A lot. He was barely conscious.

Ally adjusted the way he layed down so he was on his stomach. That way the injuries wouldn't be aggravated. She yanked his disk off its holder and got straight to work on him. She noticed the flicker in his circuits and gathered courage and took the risk to beckon a guard over.

"He needs energy." She said, eyeing the prisoner. "Even if I heal his injuries, he won't make it through the night."

The guard didn't really say anything – just grumbled as he walked off to get what Ally asked for. She immediately worked on the damages on his back, gathering up the orange code into a big blob and extracting it so she could replace it with where his healthy code should be.

Bit by bit, pixels started growing and covering over where the deep lashes were. There would be a little scarring, but hardly noticeably and less gruesome looking than they could've been.

She'd seen Zoe's scars and immediately knew that in comparison, the guy laying on the cot will be in much better shape than her friend.

The guard she spoke with returned with a glass of energy. He set it on a side table and went back to strolling along the isles with the others.

Once her patient was in good enough shape, she gently turned him over on his back and helped him sit up. His face visibly contorted with pain and he groaned.

Ally grabbed a wet rag and rubbed it across his forehead to help him relax a bit. He was in much better shape to do some things on his own but not everything.

"Open your mouth." Ally commanded.

He slowly blinked his eyes open and his gaze immediately shifted to Ally's hair. He slowly opened his mouth so Ally could slowly pour the glowing blue energy down his throat.

He coughed immediately after swallowing; voxels started pouring out of his mouth along with the liquid he just took in.

Ally's eyes widened and she laid him back down. "I need assistance over here!" She shouted.

A medic that wasn't busy ran over with a guard to see what was going on. "He's on the borderline of derezzing." She said, grabbing his disk and plugging it into a larger screen so it was easier for the two of them to work together.

The guard stood by, watching the male Program hack up more pixels as his body shook with every cough.

"Internal damage," The medic noted. "Something ruptured his airway system badly."

Ally zoomed into the internal systems and enlarged the view of the damaged areas. The medic quickly extracted the damaged code while Ally moved the rest into their rightful place. As they worked, the coughing from the patient gradually subsided.

When his code was fixed, Ally grabbed his disk and docked it. Then she supported him in an upright position to try and give him more energy. This time it went down and stayed.

Ally flinched when she heard the medic that assisted her starting to yell at the guard that watched them. She stared at the Program as she pointed an accusing finger at his chest and calling him vulgar names, blaming him for the senseless damage they'd caused the patient.

She had guts, Ally had to admit that, but she didn't like seeing the consequences of it. That's when the guard struck her. The medic fell to the ground and he kept beating her. She curled into a protective ball and the guard kept kicking her until she was completely still.

The guard looked up and locked eyes with Ally, who stared at him. "What are you looking at?" He snarled. "Get back to work!"

Ally quickly turned around and focused her full attention back to the Program she was helping and realized he was staring at her hair again.

And when he noticed she was looking back at him he turned his attention to her eyes. He said nothing to her. He just kept looking at her.

For some reason, he reminded her of the interrogation she had with Kym back in Neon when they brought her underground. But this Program's gaze was different. He wasn't prying but simply examining her features.

Then the Program did something Ally didn't expect. His mouth slowly formed a smile. Ally blinked. Then he winked at her.

She was about to say something but he beat her to it. "Jeremy." He croaked out.

"What?" She whispered.

"My name's…Jeremy." He repeated quietly before coughing again. Ally gave him more energy. He grinned at her. "…But you can call me Jeff." He said.

Ally furrowed her eyebrows at him. Jeff flicked his gaze over to the unconscious medic on the ground, then back to Ally. "Her name's Maggie." He said. "She's taken care of me before."

Without warning, he grabbed Ally by the collar of her suit and pulled her closer so his lips brushed by her ear. "She's undercover, like you." He smiled and kept his eyes on Ally's. "But she can sometimes let her attitude get the better of her."

He studied her gaze as he continued. "She can help you."

A guard walked by and Jeff released Ally, letting his head hang back, eyes closed. He pretended to be unconscious until the footsteps faded.

He opened one eye to check and see if the coast was clear. When it was, Ally stared at him in shock. "Who are you?" Was it that easy to tell that she didn't belong here?

Jeff smirked. "The question is: who are **you**?"

"Who are you?" Ally said again in a soft whisper. She was determined to know.

"One of many." He replied. "We're everywhere. Hiding in plain sight. When the time is right, we'll show ourselves and strike."

"We?" Ally asked.

Jeff looked past Ally and played a weak smile. "Hey, boys. Ready to give me a round 2?"

They said nothing as they pulled Jeremy off the cot and pulled him to the prison cells. Ally wondered if Jeff was a rebel that knew something about the disappearances.

He definitely knew something. And Ally wanted to find out.

…

Valor's POV

They'd taken him to the Coliseum to fight in the infamous "games" for people's entertainment. Of course, he was part of the later groups to come so he and the rest were locked in holding cells to wait for their match.

No one bothered socializing. Strays sat in fetal positions, looking at everyone with wide eyes like they expected to be derezzed on the spot. And the Programs that still had their disks were super cranky or nervous.

Besides, no point to get attached to others. They knew how the games worked here. Each and every one of them would be put up to fight one another up until the final match.

No one ever survived against Rinzler.

Valor heard about what Beck and Zoe went through in Argon – he'd heard their story. He knew it was Tron – his code extracted and precisely rewritten with care. He was Clu's perfect soldier; his right hand man.

According to Beck, repurposing is different depending on the Program. Cutler had remembered everything when he managed to fight his repurposing for a split nano. He said he hoped that Tron wouldn't remember a thing with what he's doing now.

Otherwise things would get complicated with him.

Zoe had said before that Tron was tough and trained everyone to do what was necessary but he had his own limits too. Derezzing innocent Programs under Clu's command wouldn't be something for a Program like him to easily forgive himself for.

Valor shuddered when he wondered if Tron had been ordered to derez ISOs. Everyone could feel it. There were several deaths every cycle by ISOs that were discovered and captured. It pained Valor to think of his kind. He missed some of his old friends.

And Cassie. He closed his eyes. It was Cassie's fault he was in this mess but he should've fought with her when he had the chance. Maybe then they'd both be still alive and free.

Valor was pulled out of his thoughts when several guards opened the door to the cell he and several other Programs shared. They were taken to separate rooms to prepare for the fight, which included getting armored up.

Not like it mattered though. They were all going to die anyway. It was just false hope to make everyone think they had a chance.

Maybe up to the final round. But then-

End of the line.

…

Evelyn's POV

She had it all planned out now. What she was going to do.

Once Liz's team inside Clu's base got the needed information and Zoe was on her planned mission regarding the disappearances, she'd confront Clu then.

In his private chambers. She would make him sit down, shut up, and listen to what she had to say. And when she was done, he could either do exactly as she said and stand down, or call her, an ISO a liar and take his chances.

Was she bluffing?

If under any necessary circumstances, she may push the button, like Cyrus almost did and destroy everything and everyone. If the plan didn't work, she'd probably wind up dead anyway.

If she died, she'd take Clu down with her. No matter what. That was her vow.

That was her dying wish – the task she was willing to accomplish.

It was a small price for freedom.

And she was more than ready to pay.

* * *

**...Yeah, I just did that... Third party! This was a new idea I just came up with from my wild imagination :)  
**

**And for Astronomy's sake - because I love science so much, I must ask if anyone saw the meteor shower. It was absolutely gorgeous! XD**

**So back into the swing of things, favorites, reviews, ya know...the stuff are very much appreciated. I cherish every one ;)**

**I'll see you guys next week for next chapter. Have a pleasant cycle.**

**TRON LIVES!**


	7. Hitting the Fan

**Greetings, Programs. Happy Tron Tuesday and I'm happy to bring you...*dramatic music*...chapter 7! XD  
...I'm debating whether or not to point out a movie reference from a certain other movie. Okay, I'll give you guys a hint. If you know Lord of the Rings, you know it when you read it. ;P**

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Hitting the Fan**

Beck's POV

His shift was pretty much uneventful. All he did was guard by the fence entrances and check ID's. Simple enough.

And when he met Ally back in their room, he could tell there was something on her mind.

"What is it?" He asked, crossing the room and sitting next to her on the bed. Ally glanced at him. "Nothing." She said quietly. "It's nothing you should be concerned about."

Beck wasn't feeling up to backing down though. "Show me." He pried. "Please." He added.

Ally closed her eyes, sighed, and it only took a little more urging from Beck before she gave in. Ally pulled off her disk and showed him the memory starting with the girl with the damaged eye and ending when the guards hauled Jeremy away.

When the memory was over, Ally reattached her disk to its holder and examined Beck's face. He narrowed his eyes. "He gives me the creeps." He said, frowning. "How does he know you? I can hardly recognize you in that disguise. So how'd he see through it?"

Ally sighed and crossed her arms. "I'm not going to jump to conclusions and assume he recognized my **face**." She drawled out slowly. "Perhaps he just knew I was different from the others. Like Maggie."

Beck decided to ask, "Did you talk to her?" Ally nodded. "And?" He pressed.

"What I managed to get from her was that same creepy statement Jeremy told me." She spoke to make an impression of Maggie in a way. "'We're one of many – hiding everywhere. Among the enemy, among the Resistance, among the civilians. And when the time is right, we'll overpower everyone.'"

Beck scrunched up his nose. "Sounds a little extreme to me." He said. "In a sense it almost sounds like either that creepy mind control problem in Argon or something similar to Cyrus's motives." He said.

Beck's eyes widened when he realized something. "Wait. Did Maggie say they were literally **everywhere**?" He asked. "Among Clu's forces, citizens…" He paused. "The Resistance Movement?"

Ally inhaled sharply from the possibility. The possibility isn't unlikely – she wouldn't doubt a thing.

Beck was thinking the exact thing Ally was. If these Programs did more harm than good on their part, they'd have yet another conflict on their hands.

That's the last thing they needed.

Beck sighed. "We don't have enough evidence of their little group actually existing so we can't exactly report this. It could just be Maggie and Jeremy in on this – they sound almost as crazy and determined at Cyrus."

"So we need to keep our eyes open and pay more attention." Ally agreed. "This'll remain between us until we have enough info, then we'll report it."

Beck rubbed his eyes wearily. "This may not be exactly another conflict to worry about yet – and hopefully never – but it's still going to add more things to our cognitive list of more things to pay attention to, which may rise our stress levels more than necessary."

Ally nodded. "I guess this is where trust is going to play a huge role." She said. "We're going to have to rely on each other to find out things and get necessary stuff done ourselves."

Beck nodded. "Okay. But this is where I'm not going to like how logic plays a role."

"How?"

Beck hesitated. "Well, considering those two Programs already know a little about you…"

"I'll have to be the one to keep an eye on them." Ally finished, nodding slowly. "It makes sense. I might be able to spy on Maggie a little but Jeremy is going to be a lot tougher. Medics with similar ranks to me aren't allowed near the cells without proper authorization or an escort by a guard."

Beck frowned. "Maggie and Jeremy are part of the same thing. You only need one target. It's less complicated." He paused. "Just make sure to look over your shoulder now and then."

Ally sighed. "I'm not going to be looking into the original purpose for our mission anymore, am I?"

Beck pinched his lips together. "Maybe a little." He said slowly. "But it's probably better to find out what Jeremy and Maggie's up to. From what I've seen in the memory and what you told me, they make me very uncomfortable." He shifted the way he was sitting on the bed for emphasis.

"Fine." Ally said. "But I still have to focus on why I came here in the first place. If I see an opportunity, I'm taking it."

"Fair enough." Beck said evenly. Then his eyebrows furrowed. "Hey, was Jeremy flirting with you in that memory?" He asked.

Ally giggled. "He just liked my hair."

"But I like your hair." Beck said. "Your hair's all mine."

Ally dramatically put her hands on her head, as if protecting her hair. "No, only my hair's mine! My precious!" She hissed.

Beck laughed. "You're a riot." He said, feeling better now that the mood lightened up in the room.

There was a light tap on the door that immediately silenced the couple. "Alisa? Barclay?" They instantly recognized Zoe's voice using their fake names. He put on his mask the moment Ally rushed to the door.

"Yay! Louise, you're here!" She said excitedly, entering the hallway. Beck gingerly followed them out towards the elevator, where everyone else was waiting.

"Where're we going?" Beck asked.

"For a walk." Zoe replied. "Is that a crime?"

Ace chuckled. "For you." He muttered.

He didn't mean for Zoe to hear but she did. She turned to him with an intimidating pose since her face still needed to be covered with her mask.

Ally grinned at Dallas. Apparently they were the only members of their little group with small chances of being recognized.

The elevator started slowing down and stopped at a random floor. The doors opened to let another Program in and Ally had to suppress a look of shock while Beck had to stop himself from flinching.

Maggie smiled pleasantly as she boarded the elevator – any mark from her beating was completely gone. Like it never happened.

Her smile widened when she looked at Ally and the corners of her eyes crinkled slightly as the smile finally reached the rest of her face. "Fancy seeing you here." She said casually, as if she never gave Ally the creeps earlier with that statement Jeremy had said.

Ally grinned back and glanced at her group members. "Guys, this is Maggie. Maggie, these are my friends."

Maggie nodded her hello to them respectfully, but she seemed more focused on Ally. "So, going to relax a bit?" She asked. "Maybe we could arrange a meet somewhere, get acquainted with some of my pals?"

Ally smiled. "I'd love to sometime." She said. Beck could see she was tempted to add a 'but' followed by an excuse but that can sometimes raise suspicion. She was doing fine.

Maggie's smile widened further to capacity. "Perfect." She said casually. The elevator landed on another floor closer to the ground and Maggie stepped off, leaving the group behind without another word.

The doors shut behind Maggie and they continued their descent to ground level.

Ace was the first to break the silence. "Alright, I'm not gonna lie. She's cute…more attractive than Zoe," To that, he earned most likely a glare from her and a hard punch to the shoulder. He continued. "But she's creepy. Who was that?" He looked at Ally.

She shrugged. "A coworker." She answered, nothing more.

Liz looked at Ally. "It might be best to avoid her. There's something I don't like – gives me the shivers." She shuddered to make her point.

Ally nodded. "I know. I will."

Zoe stared out a window while they talked. She seemed to be in deep thought about something else entirely.

"But she'll be expecting you to meet her sometime." Sky pointed out to Ally. "You can't break your word or she'll get suspicious."

Ally cursed. She knew, of course, but it was better to play the idiot than to scare the rest of the group. No reason to make a scene for nothing.

She only told Beck because he pried; and they agreed not to share the info with everyone else in the group until there was enough evidence gathered. But Beck could sense something very menacing about Maggie's presence…so they may end up getting soon whether she really was a threat or not.

She discomforted him in person ten times more than what Ally said. Maggie was dangerous, no doubt. But how so?

Beck hoped he nor will anyone else have to find out the hard way.

Like anything will happen in their favor though.

Luck had basically been thrown out the window for everyone since the very beginning of the Purge – for him, when he decapitated Clu's statue. And even before that, when Bodhi was derezzed. He wasn't going to count what happened between him and Ally in Neon though. Unnecessary.

Destiny wasn't very nice to them at all.

…

Ally's POV

The walk had been quite pleasant. Everyone exchanged stories of what work was like. For most, it was quite pleasant. Zoe shared how her coworker she shared a shift with was getting cozy with her and she may be able to get close too and perhaps manipulate info from her. She also vaguely added that she met a medic named Myles.

Though she really had no choice but to share the story when Ace, annoying as he was, pointed out her new bandages. And after that, Ace teased her about having a "crush." He may have crossed a line though as she didn't respond to anyone for the rest of the time shared with each other.

And the regret may have been slightly visible on his face for a brief moment before he covered it up again. He was good at covering up his emotions like Tron helped him master. However, it may not be written on his face but it showed through his physical actions.

And he shot Zoe a couple of apologetic looks that she may or may not have seen.

Up until this point, everyone could assume he had an "okay" time working.

But Ally's story of the conditions of her workplace blew everyone else's out of the ballpark. It even caught Zoe's attention but she still said nothing.

She told them about the poor girl who lost her eye and how she managed to restore it. But they were visibly shocked when Ally added that she also begged for death.

Of course, she purposely left out the tiny little detail regarding Jeremy. In fact, she left him out entirely. He unsettled her a little – not nearly as negatively or as much as Maggie but differently.

He made her curious while the other one scared her a little. But of course she couldn't dive right into investigations. That was dangerous.

What the entire group had in common was that they found no leads or clues that Clu was behind the disappearances. Not surprising. No one can expect any discoveries like that on the first cycle. Not even the second cycle.

This will require a lot of patience from everyone.

…

Okay, so Ally wasn't very patient. She'd pay the price for it now.

To shorten the semi-long story, someone saw her go through the files and called Rinzler or something. He caught her without much difficulty, really and then brought her to Clu.

It took a while for him to see through her disguise with the pink hair and all but he eventually did.

He smiled at her. "Good to see you again. I was very worried about you since…Argon." He said slowly.

Ally smirked back. "And that's the thing. Everyone seems to like underestimating me."

"Well, there's evidence that no one else survived when they fell down that little hole."

Ally shrugged, chafing her cuffs against her wrists in doing so. She ignored the bite and gave him her own snarky remark. "They probably just didn't know how to swim."

"Perhaps…" He smirked. "And that'll come in handy with you later on, I'm sure. Us too." He turned and started for the door.

Rinzler, Ally, and several other guards trailed behind.

They walked down a series of hallways in silence. Two guards stood by a door and opened it as soon as they saw Clu.

It was dark inside. Ally didn't quite understand what was going on until they put her into some kind of capsule and a monotone voice echoed from the speakers.

**Initiating repurposing protocols…** A monotone voice echoed throughout the room.

Ally's disk was unlatched from her back and rose above her head and she fully realized what they were doing. "Pfft!" She scoffed. "You can't repurpose a Special! It's impossible!" Ally smirked.

Clu didn't even flinch. Nothing changed – not even his amused expression, which was really bad for her. "Perhaps not before…but this one's different."

Ally's victorious smile died completely. "No…" She whispered.

"Oh, yes." Clu said, walking up to the tube so he was centimeters from the glass that separated them. "This was designed especially for YOU." He grinned. "I look forward to working with you."

It was Clu's turn to look triumphant. "Have a pleasant cycle." He said smoothly as he turned around and left the room, followed by the other Programs to leave her by herself.

She slumped into the side of the tube in defeat and rested her head against the glass. "No…" she whispered as she closed her eyes and felt the tears as her code started to leave her body.

…

Ally woke up with a start, panting. Beck stirred next to her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," He said groggily. "You okay?"

She nodded as she continued to catch her breath. They were both silent for a while. "You wanna talk about it?" He asked.

Ally shook her head. It wasn't worth bringing up. It was just a bad nightmare. That's all it was. She couldn't be repurposed; it was impossible.

She was just…nervous. Ally had a weird cycle and she was just a little jittery. She'll get used to this craziness later on.

Beck seemed to have realized by now Ally wasn't going to talk about anything at the moment so he rolled over and went back to sleep, with one arm wrapped around her in an almost protective way.

It comforted her a little and she relaxed a little. The paranoia she had of soldiers finding her gradually faded and she closed her eyes.

Everything was fine.

…

Aurora's POV

"-And that's how I ended up in Tron City." Jude finished with a smile. "So we've both had our own little adventures, haven't we?"

Courtney nodded, smiling, and drinking a shot of energy.

"FASCINATING." Aurora said. "AND WE'RE ABOUT TO HAVE ANOTHER THIS CYCLE."

Courtney's eyes widened. "Oh, even I almost forgot! You need to meet with a representative of the Resistance Movement and tell them about the disappearances!"

Jude blinked. "I do?" She gasped. "I do! Jeez I almost forgot!"

Courtney glanced at Aurora. Neither said anything.

Jude paused. "Hold on, I might forget my objective along the way – bad memory problems." She winced. "I need someone to accompany me. Sorry."

Courtney held up her hands. "I can't go. I'm wanted, remember?"

"GUESS THAT MEANS I'M GOING THEN." Aurora said. "ALRIGHT, FINE. AS LONG AS YOU DO NOTHING STUPID." She directed at Courtney. "STAY HERE UNTIL WE GET BACK."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Okay, Captain Obvious."

"I NATURALLY STAY BY COURTNEY'S SIDE ALL THE TIME NO MATTER WHAT SO THIS IS ONE OF THE RARE OCCASIONS WHEN WE GET SEPARATED. I HATE IT SO WE NEED TO DO THIS QUICKLY."

Courtney smiled. "We're natural companions."

Jude smiled and shrugged. "Okay, we'll make it quick. I don't like going out much anyway." She opened the door and left the apartment with Aurora.

Poor Program forgot to shut the door so Courtney did it for her.

Jude and Aurora walked in silence for a while.

"SO…" Aurora broke the silence. "WHERE'RE WE GOING?"

Jude blinked stupidly and stopped walking. "Uhhh…"

"WHERE'S THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENT?"

Jude shook her head. "They don't have a base."

"WELL THAT'S UNORGANIZED." The words tumbled out before Aurora could stop them.

"They have a good reason." Jude said. "That's as much as I remember about it." Her eyes widened in realization. "They're holding a meeting in a warehouse right now!" She broke into a run.

Aurora followed close behind at an easy pace. In no time, they arrived in the warehouse.

And Jude felt it necessary to burst in halfway through the meeting and make a scene. "I have important information!" She said loudly.

Many pairs of eyes in the room turned towards the Byte and Special. It would be easy to hear a pin drop. Jude took a deep breath. "Aaand…I forgot…"

Aurora patiently spoke to Jude. "The disappearances." She said quietly.

Jude perked up. "Oh right, right…that."

"Hold on, who are you?" Evelyn said.

Jude smiled. "I'm Jude, and this is Aurora." She gestured to the Byte.

"Courtney's Byte?" Jay asked.

Several Programs in the room gasped. "GREAT." Aurora muttered. "JUST WHAT I NEEDED…" As Flynn would've said, their plan was thrown out the window.

Crap hit the fan.

Evelyn narrowed her eyes. "Where is Courtney?" She asked.

There were some murmurs throughout the crowd.

"Yeah, where is she?" Someone agreed.

"She deserves a trial!" One said.

"Didn't she kill those Specials in Argon?" Another inquired.

Someone abruptly bagged Aurora and another Program grabbed Jude's arm and escorted her away. "Where're we going?" Jude asked curiously as another blindfolded her.

No one spoke as they kept walking except Aurora, who cursed and protested inside the bag. Jude smiled slightly, showing obvious amusement and forgetting the situation she was in.

Jude was separated from Aurora by rooms.

Aurora was dumped out of the bag and put in a glass box bolted to the top of a counter of sorts. She didn't know what they were doing with Jude. Probably confused by her confusion.

Aurora would smirk if she had a face but the simple feeling of amusement was enough.

Evelyn was in the same room as her. "Tell me, where's your companion?" She asked.

"WHAT DO YOU INTEND TO DO WITH HER?" Aurora answered her question with a question.

Evelyn blinked, seemingly not irritated at all. "The Council has come to the decision that she must be brought to justice for her crimes."

"FAIR ENOUGH." She said. "BUT HAVE YOU CONSIDERED PUTTING YOURSELF IN HER SHOES?"

"She has no shoes." Evelyn said.

Aurora made an irritated sound. "THINK ABOUT IT. HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU HAD YOUR MEMORIES ERASED AND THEN MANIPULATED INTO DOING BAD THINGS FOR CLU?" She watched Evelyn's frown grow. "YOU WOULDN'T FEEL GOOD, WOULD YOU? YOU'D SEEK REVENGE LIKE YOU DID WITH CYRUS."

"How do you know about that?" She demanded.

"I KNOW HOW TO KEEP UP ON NEWS UPDATES." She said. "I SAY SCREW OFF. YOU CAN HAVE COURTNEY AND YOUR STUPID TRIAL AFTER YOU UNDERSTAND ALL THAT SHE WENT THROUGH."

A Program walked into the room and whispered something in Evelyn's ear. She nodded and looked back at Aurora. "It was nice speaking with you. I must take care of a few things now." She stopped at the door. "Have a pleasant cycle."

The door shut and locked.

Aurora managed to say something vulgar in return before the door locked. It wasn't much but it gave her a sense of small satisfaction inside.

She knew she was capable of telling convincing lies, though she didn't like it and didn't do such things much. But she made sure every word she said to Evelyn was true.

"SHE CAN KISS CLU'S BUTT BEFORE GETTING ANYTHING FROM ME." She muttered to herself. "I'LL JUST KEEP MY PRIDE AND DIGNITY…AND COURTNEY'S SAFETY."

…

Reni's POV

She quickly boarded the recognizer, like she'd done once before. She was assigned to a different crew this time. She had nothing to report from her assignment from last time – they only picked up stray Programs and others that broke curfew.

Last time, everyone was taken to the Coliseum. But this time was different. When they arrived at the Games with full "cargo," about half stayed on board, sentenced with "rectification."

They went up in the air again, taking an unusual route – back to the City. Their destination was beneath the City ground level. Where the Solar Sailors were.

Each of the prisoners was unloaded and boarded on the aerial train before deactivated into forced sleep mode. She'd never seen or heard of anything like this done before.

She felt chills run down her back from the possible thoughts of what rectification was. The word sounded familiar.

Had she heard it before during the Purge? She pinched her lips together. It seemed like KiloCycles ago…

That one word echoed in her mind…

"Rectify."

* * *

**So...anyone catch it? It wasn't much but it was something. XD And was anyone surprised that I twisted around one of the scenes from my little trailer? Come on, be honest.  
And I think just to be fair, the next couple of chapters are going to be pretty eventful. Just sayin'. :)  
TRON LIVES! Toodles.**


	8. Figures

**Happy Tron Tuesday, Programs! Just bringing the next chapter for ya ;P  
If I do say so, myself, this one's going to be eventful...**

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Figures**

Courtney's POV

She sat quietly in the holding cell with her arms folded, scowling at the wall. Her cellmate, Jude, had apparently been tricked into giving her location to the Resistance Movement.

Courtney wasn't mad at Jude. It wasn't her fault. She knew the ultimate Program to blame for all of this was Clu. It all went back to the start of the Purge, which caused a chain reaction for a lot of things to happen.

And here she was now. Locked up. Waiting to face a trial of sorts held by her own friends for her crimes against Programs.

She wasn't worried about her trial though, despite her uncertainty of what her sentence would be – obviously not death. They wouldn't hold a trial like that against a Special charged for killing other Specials...would they?

Courtney wondered where Aurora was. Jude told her that they were separated when she got compromised. Jude also apologized to Courtney for her mistake. She didn't get the chance to tell Evelyn about the disappearances.

Can't do it now. No one will listen.

At least, not yet.

Courtney gave up on blaming the wall for her problems and leaned back, eyes closed and arms folded.

Jude took the opportunity to talk. "I remember!" She said.

"What?" Courtney didn't move or so much as open an eye. "What do you remember?"

Jude seemed to think for a moment before answering. "During the Purge, when I was with the medics." She started. "I got away when a bunch of Basics raided the base."

"Really?" Courtney sat up and opened her eyes to look at her.

Jude nodded. "Yeah, there was this one Program named Cutler. He was nice." She smiled sadly. "He's dead now. I got the news about what happened to him in Argon. There was a memorial all over the Grid for him."

Jude paused. "Cutler also helped me settle down in a City where I could still easily take part in helping refugee ISOs. It was a good life." She admitted. "But as any other Program would, I got restless. I decided to come back here where I'd have a more direct part in the Revolution."

"And motivation from Alpha?" Courtney asked. "You said something about that, didn't you?"

Jude blinked. "Oh yeah, I did." She agreed. "Hey, do you know where Alpha is? She hasn't been around for several Cycles now."

Courtney shrugged. "Sorry, I wouldn't know."

Jude sighed. "Oh well, I'll just have to wait for her then." They remained silent again until Jude asked a question that was obviously bugging her. "Why am I here, anyway?"

Courtney assumed she was wondering the reason she was also locked in a cell. "Because you willingly hid me in your apartment. I'm a fugitive, and helping me makes you a criminal." She said bluntly.

Jude frowned. "But you're so nice. Can't they just forgive you?"

Courtney sighed. She would've been exactly like Jude back when she was so naïve. "I wish." She muttered.

Jude looked at the floor. "I don't think what you did was really on purpose." She said.

Courtney looked at Jude and her expression softened in the slightest. "Not everyone thinks the same way you do."

"I know." Jude rested her chin on her hand. "People just aren't really understanding of others."

She couldn't really argue at that. Why would she? That was **everyone's** problem. Clu hadn't understood the ISOs or Flynn's feelings toward them so he attacked them and took over. No one understood Clu's intentions through that action so no one bothered to "talk" or propose ideas to fix things together.

No one talks so nothing positively effective happens. Only more fighting.

Stupid ignorance.

Courtney looked at Jude again. "It's us against the world." She muttered.

"What?" Jude gave her a confused look.

"It seems like it's only us and Aurora that thinks rationally…most of the time." She said, cringing when she remembered those times when she mentally lost control and killed others.

She always regretted it afterwards. And she believed that she'd learn from the first time.

It was amazing what anger could do to even the gentlest soul.

"Aurora wasn't happy when we were caught." Jude said.

Courtney nodded. "Of course she wasn't." She sighed. "She'll probably want to leave me when she gets out of this mess."

"Couldn't blame her." Jude said but quickly added. "Everyone's been through dark times and doesn't enjoy it. Who'd want more of it?"

"How do you feel right now?" Courtney asked.

Jude shrugged. "I don't necessarily feel anything negative." She paused. "But I'm not happy, either." Jude lifted a foot onto the bench she sat on and folded her arms on her knee. "I'd say I'm pretty empty now, you know? That feeling you get that feels kind of void of emotions."

Courtney nodded. "Yeah, I feel somewhat deflated. Given up." She cracked a small smile at her little pun.

Jude seemed to notice and let out a short chuckle. "I'm sure we'll both be out of this mess soon."

"You'll be out quicker than me." Courtney said. "You could probably use your head injury as an excuse for your actions. I doubt many other Programs have memory and distraction problems. And they definitely won't question that old gash in your head."

Jude raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps. But I'm not going to truth slant, I'm telling my side of the story as it was and you will too. Bytes don't lie so they'll question Aurora too."

Courtney pursed her lips. She knew Aurora could lie. She wasn't 100% of a Byte but some kind of raw code in the being of something else – something capable of talking and actually living.

Courtney smiled at the memory of when she first met her small levitating companion. For some reason, she always felt happier when she thought about that moment.

Jude saw Courtney's smile and grinned too. "See? Things will work out just fine. We just have to wait a bit."

Courtney held on to her smile and looked at the floor. "Yeah, I think it will."

…

Zoe's POV

Instead of guarding cells this time, Zoe was asked to assist in sorting files instead. The updates of information popped up on the screen and were to be categorized in different folders with a tag that they were to be looked at by someone else later.

The job was even more boring than the last one and it seemed to be going nowhere until she saw a new message pop up. It was titled: _Rectification Update_.

Zoe frowned at it, knowing that the word sounded familiar from somewhere. She looked around to make sure no one was looking and opened up the report.

Her eyes widened as she skimmed the message. The more she read, the more sure she was that it involved the disappearances. Near the end, it listed the numbers of Programs repurposed so far out of the goal, and the routes and time when they'd pick up more Programs.

She had no doubt now that this is exactly what Liz's team was looking for.

Zoe needed to tell them immediately.

She closed the message, tagged it as unread, and organized it in the proper file and continued with several others for a while before moaning in pain and clutching one of her bandaged arms.

A Program, her acquaintance from her last shift touched her shoulder. "You okay?" She asked. "Do you need to go to the medical center?"

Zoe took a few deep, audible breaths before straightening up. "I'm fine now, it's okay." She restrained a smirk. Like Ace, she knew exactly how to play others in her favor.

The Program chewed on her lip and sighed. "Go see Myles. I don't care if it doesn't hurt anymore, it could be serious. Get it looked at and then come back when you're done."

Zoe pinched her lips together and stood up, turning to quickly leave the room. When the door shut her out in the hallway, she broke into a run to Beck's room. His was closest.

She punched a button to call an elevator. When the doors opened, she ran into Reni. She looked at Zoe in surprise. "Oh! Hey,"

Zoe pressed the button to Beck's floor and turned to Reni. "I found out about the disappearances." She said.

Reni straightened up and looked at her again. "Really? So do I."

"What do you know?" Zoe asked.

Reni explained what she saw and put together in her head and Zoe told her what was in the message she read.

"We need to see Beck." Zoe said.

"That's what I was going to do." Reni said.

The elevator stopped on Beck's floor and they stepped out, following the stretch of hallway to the room he shared with Alpha.

Once Beck found out, he'd report it to Evelyn. Then they'd gather up the rest of the group and get the heck out of here. Mission accomplished.

…

Beck's POV

Once Ally finished her shift, she met Beck in their room. He looked up at her from his seat on the bed. "Hey,"

Ally smiled pleasantly. "Hey,"

"Anything interesting happen this cycle?" He asked.

She groaned. "Plenty." Instead of telling him like she did before, she pulled her disk from its holder and showed him the disturbing memory of the cycle.

_Jeremy smiled at Ally in a friendly way. "So, have you made any new friends?" He asked while Ally worked on a shoulder wound._

_Ally hadn't looked him in the eye since their strange conversation yesterday. At least Maggie and Jeremy hadn't spoken strangely since last cycle. Now they're acting as almost regular acquaintances._

_Almost._

_Jeremy's gaze seemed to pierce through her when she didn't reply. He leaned forward. "We're very strong in numbers." He whispered._

_Ally froze. It was getting creepy again. The way he talked. "What?" She asked._

_He smirked. "What?" He was either pretending to not hear her or not understand._

_She sighed. "Are you part of the Resistance Movement?" Her voice was barely audible but she knew he heard._

_He raised an eyebrow. "That? No. We're more subtle but just as effective right now. But in the long run, we'll have accomplished more."_

"_That's quite something to brag." Ally said casually, moving from his shoulder to fix a gash in his abdomen. She'd play along with his game for now. She was getting vague information but it was something._

_What she was hearing was a little concerning. Either both Jeremy and Maggie are crazy or there's really a similar operation going on that she wasn't aware of._

_It seemed a bit more realistic to lean toward the former…she hated to have to worry about something potentially dangerous going on elsewhere._

"_We have big things planned." His eyes flashed. "You'll know soon."_

_If that didn't scream danger, Ally didn't know what would. She quickly finished healing his injuries and the guards took him back to his cell._

When the memory ended, Beck shot Ally a weird look. "That…that sounds threatening to me." He commented.

Ally frowned at the floor. "It does, doesn't it?"

Beck pulled out his communicator. "I'm reporting this to base. I don't care if they say we still don't have enough evidence; someone's giving us both the creeps and possibly threatening you. If anything happens, we can say 'I told you so.'"

She sat still next to Beck and watched him type a brief report of what's been happening with Ally. Just after sending the message, there was knocking on the door.

Beck quickly put on his mask and hid the communicator as Ally stood up to open the door. It was a guard. "Alisa, may I borrow you for a moment?"

Ally nodded. "Yes, of course." She followed him out into the hall and shut the door behind her. Beck listened to the muffled sound of talking and footsteps fading.

A few Micros after that, there was another knock on the door. Beck stood up to answer it and looked at Zoe and Reni in surprise. "Hi."

The two girls pushed into the room and shut the door. "We know about the disappearances." Reni said. "It's all Clu's planning."

"I read a report all about it." Zoe continued. "Now I know their routes and when they'll be doing it in the future. Report it to Evelyn so we can pull together the rest of the group and get out."

Beck got a reply from Evelyn.

'_We'll discuss more about that later. Courtney's been found and is in custody now. We also have information from a Program that was with her about the disappearances. Liz and the rest of the team are required to report back as soon as possible.'_

Reni and Zoe stared at the message in shock. "What?!"

Zoe sat down. "Jeez, a lot's been happening lately, huh?" Reni asked.

Beck grunted. "Tell me about it."

"Come on," Reni pulled Zoe back onto her feet. "Let's round up the others, shall we?"

Just as Reni opened the door, she let out a yelp of surprise. Zoe and Beck immediately snapped their attention to the door. It was Liz, standing right outside the door. Her fist raised as she was about to knock.

"Evelyn just sent me a message." She said, lowering her arm. "Mission accomplished, now let's get everyone out of here."

Beck and Zoe volunteered to go looking for everyone else. Reni handed Zoe her communicator so everyone could stay in touch.

"Be sure to message frequently for safety reasons." Liz said. "If anything bad happens, it's all on me."

Beck smirked. "You've managed handle everything just fine so far."

She beamed. "Thanks." After she sobered, she eyed him. "Be careful, guys."

They nodded. "Will do," He responded.

Within 10 Micros, Beck managed to round up Dallas and Ace. Zoe sent a message to Beck and Liz that she found Paige and Sky. Beck informed Zoe and Liz that Ally was talking with a guard about something and should return soon.

Beck had confidence that Ally could handle herself just fine. Zoe offered to stay behind and wait for Ally. Beck couldn't argue. It was nice to see Zoe and Ally spending more time together since they made up from their fight, even if it's not personal time.

It would be fine.

…

Zoe's POV

"Alisa? Alisa, where the heck are you?" She called as she looked around the building, trying not to disturb anyone else too much.

She passed a medic in the halls as she called Alpha's fake name. They bumped shoulders and the medic turned around. "Oh, are you looking for Alisa?" She asked with a pleasant smile. "I think she said something about needing to meet up with some friends of hers." The medic shrugged. "She seemed to be in a hurry to exit the building."

Zoe blinked. "Really?" That Program looked familiar. That's when it clicked.

She was in the elevator with them when they were going for a walk. Zoe wasn't paying attention to the conversation; she was too busy thinking about the disappearances. All she knew for sure was that this Program – Maggie – was a "coworker" of Ally's while undercover.

Zoe turned and walked away. "Alright, thanks. I'll see if I can try and catch up to her." As soon as Zoe was out of sight from prying eyes, she slowed down. She felt temptation rising inside of her at that moment. She usually kept herself strictly under control but she wondered if she could break her composure briefly to have just a little bit of fun – like Ace recommended several times before.

Since she was the only one left, she figured she could give the building a makeover.

The ultimate act of vandalism.

Zoe cracked her knuckles and placed her hand on the wall. She thought back on each and every historical quote there was since the Purge – most recent.

Paint streamed from her fingertips and covered the walls and ceiling with "words of profanity." The rest were just torments: Freedom is Perfection, Alpha was here, ISOS RISE, Clu Lies, and Tron Lives.

Each phrase was a different color. And Zoe didn't stop there. She littered the floor with: "Haha," in different sizes and fonts.

She pressed her hand harder against the wall and willed the messages to spread all over the interior of the building.

Zoe had to pull away though when the alarms started going off. She wiped any residue paint off and ran to the elevator like she had a priority, which she did.

She needed to exit the building. Ally was probably almost at Evelyn's apartment if she was going in that particular direction.

She rode the elevator to ground level and snuck past the fence to freedom. She ran between the buildings for a while and stopped momentarily to change her suit back to normal before running again.

As she agreed with the rest of the group, Zoe met them in the basement of Evelyn's apartment. Every eye in the room stared at Zoe.

Beck unfolded his mask. He was wearing his civilian attire again. Beck stood up. "Where's Ally?" He asked.

Zoe's mouth hung agape. "Isn't she here?"

"You volunteered to stay behind to wait for her, remember?" Liz said, looking concerned.

"But I was told she was leaving the base." Zoe said.

Beck's expression changed. "Who told you that?" He asked. "Who?"

Zoe bit her lip. "Uh – what's her name? That medic? M-Maggie?"

Beck's even, dark look turned to pure shock. "HER?" He asked. "Gosh, Zoe, she played you like a fool!" He put his hands on his head and paced the room furiously. "Now Ally's all alone in Clu's base with that creep!"

Ace frowned. "Aaand…what are we going to do? Wait?"

Beck stopped pacing and looked at him. "I'm going to look for her."

"NOW?" Liz asked. "No, not until Evelyn comes back. She called a meeting. Besides, I'm sure Al's fine – she can take care of herself; she's done it before."

Beck sighed and collapsed on a couch. "But we have no idea what we're up against."

Zoe narrowed her eyes. "Beck, tell me everything. I need to know why you're so concerned."

Beck looked at her. "You want to know? Fine, I'll tell you what I know."

…

Ally's POV

She spoke with the guard up to 20 Micros about the schedule of her next shift and when she'd have some time off. After that, the guard walked away and she headed back to her room when an alarm sounded.

Guards on duty ran past her, not bothering about her existence. She furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what the heck was going on until she assumed the worst.

She ran back to her room and opened the door. The room was bare.

Ally stared at the room for a few Nanos until it abruptly disappeared from her field of view. Someone shoved a bag over her head and strong arms wrapped themselves around her torso, her feet left the ground.

She kicked and flailed for a while until they too – along with her arms – were restrained. Ally was reduced to the only thing she could do. She hit her head against the chest of the Program that held her, which did more harm than good.

Ally blinked the spots away and groaned. Her head hurt now.

Someone grabbed her legs and helped the first Program carry her away. She started struggling again but to no avail.

Then she heard the first Program speak. "Calm yourself." He chuckled. "Didn't think you'd get so excited." He leaned closer. "Don't worry, you'll find out everything soon."

Ally's eyes widened.

Jeremy.

Go figure.

* * *

**Yeah, not the most unpredictable cliffy...not the worst though ;P  
I cannot and will not make any guarantees for anything next chapter or ones in the future but I personally think this book is going to be the best addition to my first series ever (literally speaking).  
Big thanks to everyone that's reviewed for me and has been sticking around since the very beginning. I really appreciate it.  
TRON LIVES! Toodles.**


	9. Spiking Curiosity

**Happy Tron Tuesday, Programs! I got a sunburn on Saturday...bye bye pale pride ;P It hurts!  
I'm never letting my friends keep me outside on a sunny day for more than an hour from now on. But I don't know how I'll make it through the Summer, guys. Wish me luck!**

* * *

**Chapter 9 – Spiking Curiosity**

Evelyn's POV

The message she'd received from Beck's communicator was very concerning. She'd heard next to nothing about Programs like Beck described. Perhaps Clu was aware of them being in the base and assigned Programs to scare them or something.

Of course, that was very unlike Clu and would indirectly play with them like that but it was the best theory she had. It was kind of hard to believe that two Programs were part of a movement like the Resistance.

She decided it was best to get Liz's group out of there as soon as possible. Besides, after extracting information from a Program named Jude, who was with Courtney, there was really no point of having the group in there anymore.

They had just enough information to send Zoe out on that mission if she still wants to go.

Once the team gets back, they can discuss the various plans they need to make: Zoe's mission, those Programs at Clu's base, Courtney's private trial, etc.

And after that, she can think about when it would be the perfect time to slip into Clu's base to speak with him. First, Zoe would have to be on her mission so everyone's more focused on that and she could slip away. Courtney's trial could happen any time before or after she goes to see Clu. And after she speaks with Clu, and those Programs Beck mentioned really are a threat, they could use both forces to take them down if necessary.

After all that, they could begin working on restoring peace…and some of the Cities that were destroyed.

Evelyn frowned at the door in front of her. She was thinking too much right now. She could do that later after they set up their next plan of action.

She opened the door and stepped into the room, where Liz's team was waiting. Evelyn closed the door behind her and looked at them. "Where's Alpha?" She asked.

Beck looked down. "Taken, I assume." He said quietly.

Evelyn's head snapped towards him. "What?!" She said in surprise.

"It's my fault." Zoe spoke up. "Maggie made me think she was on her way back here so I left without her."

Evelyn raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Maggie?"

"Oh, she was one of the mysterious Programs I messaged you about." Beck said vaguely, with hinted irritancy.

Liz had her head resting in her hands. Obviously, she knew just as much as Beck did. "This is bad. This is really, really bad." She said. "If anything happens to Al, it's all on me."

"No," Evelyn corrected. "It'll be on whoever took her. It wasn't your fault – you did exactly as you should."

Liz looked like she was about to argue but Evelyn held up her hand to keep her quiet. "You were right not to go after her yet. Like Zoe would've done if you hadn't gone on this mission for more info, you'd be blindly searching for something you barely know about."

"So what?" Beck asked, standing up so he was eye to eye with Evelyn. "What do we do then?"

She fixed her gaze on the ground. "We wait."

No one said anything to that, neither arguing nor agreeing. They couldn't fight.

Zoe cleared her throat to break the silence. "I'm still going on that mission." She said. "I'll leave as soon as possible."

Evelyn nodded. "Alright but not yet." She said quietly. "We still need to figure out what to do with Courtney. Obviously, we can't do anything about…Maggie yet."

Zoe shrugged. "Alpha was technically a victim of one of Courtney's actions in Argon so we'd have to wait for her return. I don't really have a necessary involvement in the trial unless I'm playing jury."

"Fair enough." Evelyn pursed her lips. "Here's what I say we should do for now. We'll go about our usual routines like always while Zoe goes on her mission to find out more about the disappearances." She turned to the agent. "Go see Google when you're ready."

Zoe nodded and stood up to leave the room. She had a sag in her shoulders that showed a great deal of how she was feeling now. And Evelyn couldn't blame her for feeling that way.

Everyone else got to their feet and left the room so they could get back to the things they used to do before they went on Liz's mission.

They looked the same was Zoe did – that loose posture that showed their melancholy and worry for Alpha. Evelyn was worried too. Maybe Clu would know what was going on.

Evelyn went back upstairs to her room. She paced in there for almost a PectroCycle and brainstormed on possible scenarios of what was happening to Alpha and how they could possible resolve the problem.

She stopped pacing after she started feeling dizzy and fried. Evelyn opened a drawer in her dresser and pulled out the box.

Evelyn carefully placed the box with the detonator inside on the clean surface of the dresser and sat down on the bed, eyeing it.

She was ready. Evelyn could confront Clu now, demand to know what was happening and threaten him, maybe kill him right there and then.

And then-

She shook her head as she stood up and shoved the box back into the drawer, sealing it shut.

Not yet.

It wasn't time yet.

But soon, soon she could see Clu but not now. She was still needed for certain priorities here.

Evelyn could always pull out the remote and demand to be heard but that's for later.

"Soon." Evelyn murmured.

…

Dash's POV

"I-I can't believe I let her down!" She fumed and punched her bedroom wall. "I failed one of my closest friends and let someone take her." She sat down on the bed, her shoulders shaking from the powerful emotions she was feeling. "Have you ever gone through something like this, Dash?"

The mechanic shifted in his seat next to her. "Yeah…" He said slowly. "I've let down some close Programs before."

Liz squeezed her eyes shut and buried her hands in her face again for the 43rd time in her bedroom.

Dash had been counting. It was better doing that than hearing the grief of losing Alpha. He couldn't imagine how Beck was feeling if Liz was like this.

And he's never seen Liz how she was now. She was nearly broken not acting like her badass, sassy self she usually was. Beck- Beck must be training like crazy, making a mess of his room from rage and loss.

Heck, Dash wouldn't be surprised if Beck worked harder than ever to capture repurposed guards and fix them in hopes of getting them to tell him if they knew anything about Ally's location.

Beck was capable of doing a lot when he got emotional.

After all, he was the one that mutilated Clu's statue over Bodhi's death. He saved Dash and the rest of the mechanics multiple times when they were in mortal danger.

And he was willing be and stay as Tron's successor despite the danger he was put in. Beck did everything he possibly could to protect everyone he cared about, no matter what.

He never gave up, and he made a point that he never will, either.

Dash was wondering whether he should be more concerned for Liz, who's acting in a way in front of him that he's never seen before or Beck, who could undoubtedly cause a lot of trouble out of anguish.

Well, Liz is somewhat unpredictable while Beck does what people think he'll do. What these two had in common, rashness.

Dash frowned at Liz and patted her on the back. "It's okay, it's okay, come here." He pulled her into an awkward hug and they stayed that way for a while.

Liz quieted down very quickly but didn't move. Dash felt really weird with this sort of comfort and wasn't exactly used to dealing with sentimental things. He's usually so laid back and enjoying himself with his friends, not comforting a girl on the verge of destruction.

Liz sniffled and Dash pulled back. "You okay now?" He asked cautiously.

Liz nodded quickly and avoided eye contact with him. She wiped her face with her arm and wore that mask free of emotion again, sort of like what Ace does.

"Neither of us is to mention any of…that." She said in a commanding sort of voice. "Ever."

Dash shrugged. "Fine by me. I don't want anyone knowing that I actually comforted you."

Liz smiled in the slightest bit and rolled her eyes. "Whatever, jerk." She stood up and went to the door. "Dash?"

"Hm?" He looked up.

Liz's eyes softened. "Thank you."

Dash smirked and leaned back. "Yeah, yeah, go have fun taking a nap now." He stood up. "I should probably go see if I can make myself useful, too."

"See you later." She said casually as she left the room and Dash behind her.

…

Ace's POV

He wasn't going to be very busy for a while. In fact, Ace had a lot of time on his hands so he went to see Zoe for a while to help her get ready for her mission.

"You didn't have to come." Zoe said as they walked to Google's 'lab.' "You know I don't need help."

Ace shrugged. "I just thought you'd like some friendly company before you depart." He smirked. "You're welcome."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Right. Because you're just sooo friendly."

"Really? You think so? Thanks." He grinned. "Therefore I forgive you for attacking me back in the Argon tunnels." He paused. "I will also apologize for calling you an insolent wench."

Zoe smirked. "That's something to laugh about when this is all over."

"And if we're not captured and put in cells forever." He added.

"Way to break the happy mood." Zoe said dully.

He shrugged. "Hey, at least I'm not as bad as Aden."

"That's a matter of opinion." Zoe allowed a hint of a smile to show.

"You witless dame." He punched her shoulder, to which she punched back.

"What, I spoke the truth." Zoe said. "People have the right to opinionate."

"True, true. You have me there." He said. "But not everyone has those rights."

"Then we'll make sure to give them it." Zoe said determinedly.

"We?" Ace looked at her. "Did you say 'we'?"

Zoe nodded. "We're part of a team, right? Tron would want us to work together and get along like one."

"We all know what Tron would wish." He said quietly. "But I still wish he was around just to say it."

Zoe offered him a sad smile and patted his shoulder. "I do too. Maybe he'll come back and help us make things normal again."

"I can imagine that." Ace's emotionless mask gradually melted as he let a small smile creep across his face. "I still remember the last time he smacked me upside the head for acting like a newly rezzed Program."

Zoe shrugged. "Well, it's considered healthy to have fun once in a while but not all the time."

"So why don't you have fun?" He asked.

Zoe stopped walking so he stopped too. She pinched her lips together. "I did." She said quietly. "On my way out of Clu's base."

He smirked. "What'd you do?"

She pursed her lips and looked at the ground. "Art." Zoe sighed. "I'm feeling so sorry that I didn't think more about what Maggie said. Maybe I could've gotten Alpha out."

They were silent for a while.

The subject needed to be changed for the sake of happy environment.

Ace looked Zoe in the eye. "Well I don't know about you, but I wouldn't apologize for art." He smirked. "Even if it's as terrible as your personality."

Zoe's jaw dropped and she stared at him. Ace laughed at her expression, which triggered a smile from Zoe. "Why must you insult me?" She asked lightly, still smiling a little as they kept walking.

"Because I'm a big jerk." He said indifferently.

Zoe rolled her eyes at his smug expression. "Well you'd better get going you big jerk or you'll be late for your assignment of…whatever you need to do."

"I've still got time." Ace stated. "I'd actually like to see you off after helping to bug you." He laughed.

"Was the pun intended?" Zoe asked.

He grinned. "Of course." Ace followed Zoe into Google's little room that was like a lab of sorts to him. The thin, frail-looking Program turned to them with a pleasant smile.

Google leaned back in his chair. "Well look who it is." He said. "Where have you two strangers been lately?" He looked at Ace. "Showing a girl a good time?"

"Hardly." Zoe interjected. "The insolent wench that I am is just too unbearable for him."

"Witless dame." Ace corrected. "But if I do say so, myself," He grinned. "I'd think Zoe had quite an experience recently to last her quite a while."

Zoe looked at Ace in mock surprise as Google chuckled and started putting trackers on her. "Oh? And what would that be?" She asked.

"Why, just getting a good look at me." He replied.

Zoe rolled her eyes and laughed. "Wow, I feel so honored." She said dryly. "Actually, what surprised me was that you actually seemed to care enough to tag along for this."

Ace picked up a tracker and placed it on her shoulder. "I just came to bug you." Google laughed at the pun.

A few Micros later, they were finished planting the bugs and wished Zoe goodbye.

"I'm really not sure if you should carry your disk around." Google said. "But I guess if you don't, you'd eventually turn into a stray." He thought for a moment. "Let me try something." Zoe handed him her disk and he set to work.

"What're you doing?" Ace asked.

"Trying to hide the memories." Google replied. "Let me see if I can use a password or something."

"What's the password?" Ace asked with an innocent smile.

Google laughed. "That's only for Zoe to know."

When he finished working on the disk, he handed it back to Zoe. "All you need to do is type in a password. Please don't make it obvious."

Zoe smirked. "Well, it'll be the last thing anyone guesses."

Ace tried and failed to see what password Zoe typed in but shrugged it off like it wasn't a big deal.

Google folded his arms. "Okay, see if Ace can access any of your memories without password. I want to make sure there aren't any bugs in the code I inserted."

Ace snatched the disk and poked around the contents but couldn't access the memories. "Can I try and hack the password?" He asked. "I bet I know what it is."

Zoe took her disk back. "No, you may not." She stuck out her tongue. "Thanks, Google."

He smiled. "No problem. I wish you the best of luck on your mission." He shook her hand. "Come back safely."

"I'll try." Zoe smirked and punched Ace's arm on the way out. He rubbed his shoulder as he exited and made his way to a warehouse, where he'd meet the team he was part of. This cycle they were supposed to make some noise somewhere close to the Sea of Simulation.

After he rounded a corner, he did a double take and stared ahead of him.

There were Programs dressed entirely in black lined up across the alley, blocking his path. They had no circuitry at all, which made them appear ominous to him. He backed up a few steps and bumped into a Program right behind him. He whirled around to face another group of Programs lined up.

He was surrounded.

Ace put on his emotionless mask and made himself look relaxed. "Hello, gents." He nodded to the Program he bumped into. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, in fact, you can." One of them replied behind him.

Ace turned to face the Program standing in the middle of the alley, between his comrades that cut off his route to the warehouse. "We're looking for a Program you most likely know."

"Who?" Ace asked with a quizzical eyebrow.

"You." The Program he bumped into made a grab for him that Ace failed to avoid in time. He bear hugged him from behind as the rest of the Programs closed in at a leisurely pace, taking their time.

Ace had to admit, the Program that had him was fast. Very fast.

And unnaturally strong.

Panic rose up from inside him and he fought not to show it more than he did with the Program.

He was done for.

And they all knew it.

Suddenly two Programs parted and a female Program in a black cloak stepped between them. She casually approached Ace with a syringe in her gloved hand.

He managed to deliver a good kick; hard enough to knock the syringe from her hand and cause it to break. The hood fell off her head to reveal a face that looked a lot like Emi's but not quite.

A medic.

Maggie.

She smirked and rubbed her hand that got kicked. "You've got a lot of fight." She drawled out. "We could definitely use that."

Ace looked at her with a cold poker face which she didn't respond to. She circled him and the Program that had him in a bind. "You're looking for Alpha, right?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Not exactly what I was doing now, but definitely keeping it in mind."

Maggie smiled. "Well this is your lucky cycle. We're taking you to her."

Before Ace could make a snarky remark back or react to her cryptic statement, someone hit him in the back of the head. Hard.

…

Ally's POV

She had no idea where exactly Jeremy and his friends took her but it was definitely their hideout, which was not anything like she expected.

From the way it looked when they took the sack off her head, it was more busy and organized than what she saw in the Resistance Movement on a cycle's basis.

If Jeremy didn't scare her then back at Clu's base, he certainly did now. When he told her they were just as effective as the Resistance, he was being modest. These guys were more than ready to deliver a blow against Clu and win.

"We have much more planned than to just take down Clu." Jeremy said as he led her around the base. They were more than certain that Ally wouldn't try anything funny let alone make an escape attempt so it was more like a friendly tour around without bonds.

Ally studied the underground structure blankly. It was impressive but she wasn't going to show it to the crazy guy that kidnapped her.

Who would, anyway if they still had any dignity left? And she felt like she still had plenty of it.

Jeremy studied her intently as he walked beside her, watching her every move, her face, sometimes even letting his gaze shift back to her still pink hair before catching himself and look back to her face again.

"Sit down." They entered a brightly lit room that was somewhat like any regular energy bar with chairs, tables and everything.

She complied without a word and stared at the surface of the table in front of her. Jeremy sat down across from her and rested his cheek on his hand, elbow on the table. "If you don't mind me asking out of curiosity," He started casually, "When was the last time you had energy?"

Was that really why they were here? To refresh and have a nice little chat about the weather?

Ally pursed her lips. "About 2 cycles." She said quietly.

Jeremy nodded. "Good."

She looked at him in surprise. "Good? That's bad. You're supposed to have several shots every cycle. Are you crazy?"

Jeremy leaned toward her, his eyes boring holes into her. "I have plans for you. There's no need to worry about anything." His lips formed a pleasant smile that looked quite convincing, but Ally wasn't stupid.

This guy sounded crazy.

He said "good" when she said she needed energy. And even weirder, why were by in an energy bar if they weren't going to have energy?

"Yeah, about that. You said I'd find out everything?" She gave him an unconvinced look. "Not quite comfortable in the situation I'm in, nor was I earlier since you first spoke with me. But if you don't mind, I'd like to leave and not have anything to do with your organization. I'm even having second thoughts about getting involved in big groups from now on. I think I really want to just live as part of the general public in a random City that's not involved in the Rebellion."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Alpha. You're very necessary to us, as is several others we don't have yet." Jeremy said in an eerily casual tone.

"Okay, you spiked my curiosity. What do you want with me? And more importantly, what's this all about?"

Jeremy gave her a hint of a smile. "For now, Alpha, I'll tell you that what we do here is in the name of science. And what we plan to do later is in the name of the Users."

* * *

**You know, when I first thought about Jeremy and Maggie, I figured they'd sort of be psychopathic and crazy, like Cyrus. But then I thought: Nah, nobody can do Cyrus's job better then Cyrus, so they're going a play a more...complicated role throughout this book.  
Love ya guys! TRON LIVES! Toodles. ;)**


	10. Adapted

**Happy Tron Tuesday, Programs and Users! I just watched some wacky Youtube video about these 4 babies laughing with their mother on a bed and I have to say, it's hilarious! XD I'd recommend you guys check it out; it'll make your day.  
As for this chapter, well, not much to tell, really. Title says it all.**

* * *

**Chapter 10 – Adapted**

Ace's POV

_Ow. Head hurts._

Ace groaned and slowly opened his eyes to find himself directly face to face with Maggie. He let out a startled sound before recollecting himself and studied his environment.

His wrists and ankles were strapped to a table in a very bright room. White was everywhere and it had a sterile sort of look to everything.

Maggie stood next to the table, leaning over him with her head cocked to her side. "When was the last time you had energy?" She asked.

Ace said nothing but stare coldly at her like he did before. She reached over and laid her palm spread out on his chest, her eyes closed for a split nano before opening again and removing her hand. "A little over a cycle?" She shook her head like she was disappointed but her smirk contradicted her movement. "Not healthy for you but quite convenient for us." She sounded excited. "We can start the procedure right away!" She skipped out of the room.

Ace blinked rapidly at the ceiling. A million questions were running through his head. _What? Procedure? Energy? What the heck is she doing?_

He turned his head to the side and saw her speaking with a couple of scientists. A few Micros later, she left the room and the scientists she conversed with were left in charge by the looks of it.

One of them hooked him up to a machine that monitored his energy levels and other vitals while another examined his code.

Ace had to resist the temptation of asking what they were going to do with him. He knew he was going to find out shortly.

"Subject's vitals and energy levels are fit for the procedure." One of them stated. "We have the all clear to start."

They didn't detach him from the monitor but hooked him up with more machines – one of them involving a tube going into his arm. Then the lights in the room dimmed down. A scientist typed a code into one of the machines and made sure everything worked fine before turning it on.

Ace immediately felt a tingling sensation all over. The scientist turned the knob and the intensity went up. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as it gradually became painful.

A cold liquid was pumped through a tube and into his arm. It suddenly felt that whatever was going on with his body was stimulated. He cried out in pain as it was like every pixel that he was made of was grinding together.

His head felt even worse – he wasn't sure if it was because he was hit there earlier or what. His fisted hands clenched and his nails dug into his palms.

_Users, this hurts!_ Ace panted as he tried to ignore the pain – as if it was even possible. He distracted himself momentarily by thinking about his chances of ignoring the pain.

_Probably negative 995.26 percent chance of it happening._ He thought bitterly…he hadn't even rounded or estimated his guess. Another sudden sharp pain jolted through his system and he cringed.

The violent tingling and grinding sensations were starting to level out now – it still hurt but not as bad.

Ace tried to catch his breath and his eyelids felt heavy.

"Keep him awake." The scientist running the machines said, "He needs to be 100 percent aware and responsive for this to work."

He heard footsteps come closer to him but someone else spoke up. "No, I'll do it. Go back to what you were doing."

A face appeared in his blurry field of vision.

Maggie.

She bent over him. "Come on, stay awake." She watched his eyelids droop and frowned. "You don't want to have to go through this again. It only works if you're awake for some reason." Maggie tilted her head to the side. "And we'll keep doing it until it works."

Ace gritted his teeth and glared at her. "Screw you."

Maggie raised both eyebrows. "You still have fight? That's good. We need more of that." She leaned closer. "You'd make the best soldier we've ever had. The perfect Program."

Ace felt a growl in the back of his throat. "Those are Clu's words!" He spat. "I want nothing to do with it."

Maggie pursed her lips. "I didn't mean it in that way."

The tingling sensation went down and something else was injected into him through the tube. Maggie smiled. "Congrats: you survived the procedure." Ace didn't feel he had the energy to react to what she said. At least the tingling and pain stopped. Ace felt exhausted.

"Successful?" Maggie asked without looking at the scientists.

One of them checked the monitor and nodded.

"Good. Let him up and I'll escort him out."

Ace was detached from the machines and his restraints disappeared. He sat up and got off the table. Despite how weak and shaky he felt from his scarring experience, it was…easy to stand and walk around.

Maggie turned to leave the room and he followed her. "What the heck did you do to me back there?" He demanded as he walked by her.

She looked straight ahead as she spoke. "We adapted you."

…

Ally's POV

She felt weary, sitting in this bright white room. There wasn't much in here but two beds by opposite walls, two dressers, and one door that led in and out. It was locked from the outside.

She was taken here after going through what Jeremy called "The Procedure." It hurt like nothing she's ever felt before.

Ally felt different now, physically speaking. Walking felt as effortless as laying down used to feel. She was still shaky from the painful process of…whatever they did to her.

She vowed that the next time she sees Jeremy or Maggie, she'll strangle them. Ally's head snapped up when she heard the faint beep that meant the one door in and out of here was no longer locked.

Ally jumped up from her seat at an amazing speed and wasn't even thrown off balance from it. The door opened and Ace walked in. And behind him-

Maggie.

Ally pounced at her and the medic sidestepped like she expected it. She hit the floor hard in the hallway outside. Ally got to her feet quickly again and spun around to face the now smirking Program.

"You may be better in combat than you were several PectroCycles ago, Alpha, but you still have much to learn."

Ally jumped up and spun in midair to deliver a hard kick but over calculated her newfound strength.

Faster than what Ally thought was possible for a Program, Maggie dashed towards her, grabbed her by the waist and literally tossed her back into the room like she was nothing.

She barely felt the impact and got back to her feet for more. Maggie shut the door and locked it before Ally could have another go. She smacked into it and fell to the ground again after failing to stop.

Ace was sitting on one of the beds and watching her curiously as she got back to her feet. "That was freaky." He said.

Ally nodded. "Yeah, I didn't know she could fight like that."

"I wasn't talking about that." Ace said slowly, eyeing her. "Do you have any idea what you did?"

Ally checked her body and found a few small cuts from her small scuffle with Maggie. Jeremy wasn't kidding when he talked about Maggie. She was dangerous.

She seemed to be going easy on her.

Ally's eyes widened in shock when she saw pixels starting to form where the cuts are. She didn't do anything to her disk to alter her code yet.

She was healing herself automatically!

Ace's jaw dropped. "Okay, I don't know as much as a medic about injuries, but something tells me that isn't right."

"Now **that** is freaky." Ally mumbled as she examined where her cuts once were.

Ace crossed the room and sat down next to her so he could get a look where the injuries were before. "I wonder if we can do more than self-healing." He said.

"I felt weird when I was walking after the procedure." Ally said. "And when I was fighting Maggie. I felt stronger."

"You were faster, too." Ace added. "You also looked like you had better balance and flexibility."

Ally was quiet.

Ace furrowed his eyebrows. "Al, what do you think they did to us?"

She looked up at him. "They changed us."

Ace stared hard at the floor. "I don't know what they're planning, but they obviously want us involved. And I'm pretty sure they wouldn't change us this in this sort of way if they didn't want us on their side."

"They strapped me to a table and forced me to endure a terrible pain." Ally said crossly. "If I knew what they were going to do…even in the name of science, I still wouldn't think it's worth it."

Ace looked at her. "Do you think there's a way to undo what they did? I don't want to be like this."

Ally stole a glance at him. "I hope so. If I do get the opportunity to be cured, I hope it'll be at least a bit less painful."

"I swear, they had me screaming like a girl." Ace blurted out. He looked at Ally. "Don't you dare share that with Zoe."

Ally pulled her knees to her chest. "I hope to see Zoe again." She tensed up. "…You…don't think they got her too, do you?"

Ace shifted in his seat. "I…don't think so. If something's not right, she would've sent a distress signal early."

"Man, I gotta carry one of those." Ally muttered.

He didn't laugh. "I'm sure Zoe's just fine. She's tough."

"No doubt." Ally said. "But these guys are unbelievingly strong." She looked at him. "They took you by force, right?" He hesitantly nodded. "If they can take you, they could take her if she didn't get warning."

"I had warning." Ace said defensively. "I just didn't react the way I should've."

"At least you had a warning." Ally muttered. "I had no idea they snuck up behind me. They were fast."

"They **are** fast." He corrected. "…And strong."

They both looked up when the door unlocked. Learning from her recent experience with Maggie, Ally remained seated next to Ace and watched Jeremy enter the room followed by Maggie.

Jeremy grinned like he was very amused from what he saw, which he probably was.

"From what Maggie just shared with me, I'd assume you've discovered a little about your newfound abilities." He started, looking directly at Ally with a smirk. "So for your benefit, we've both decided to just tell you instead of having you deal with more surprises."

"You decided it." Maggie muttered under her breath.

Jeremy clapped his hands together and sighed. "But before we talk about abilities and such, I think it's necessary for a brief history lesson." He looked at the duo carefully before adding. "We need to trust each other in order to work effectively together."

Maggie turned towards Jeremy in surprise. "I never agreed to tell." She hissed.

Jeremy glanced at his partner. "But I feel like they deserve to know." His eyes pierced her like sharp blades. "After all, we did adapt them without their consent."

"Yeah," Ally interjected. "You did." She looked at Ace. "What about you? Anything you'd like to add?"

He shrugged indifferently and leaned back. "Nah, I think we're covered."

Maggie turned away and pouted – or at least appeared to.

Jeremy rolled his eyes at her and looked back at Ally and Ace. "Then to start off, I should admit that it was Clu's idea-"

Ally straightened up. "What?!" She exchanged an alarmed look with Ace. "Clu wanted us adapted?"

Jeremy pursed his lips. "Not exactly. You interrupted before I could explain." He sighed and started again. "Back during the Purge, Clu studied Specials and found that they were very…advanced Programs." He said slowly. "But he thought they could become more than what they already were."

"Hence, creating the theory that Specials could be adapted." Maggie interrupted.

Jeremy shot her a pointed look. "He thought long and hard over how they could be improved for the better." Jeremy explained. "And idealized they could be super spies or something."

"He was targeting to improve abilities such as sight, hearing, and the other main senses." He shrugged. "Make it easier for spying."

"But when the operation was first attempted," Maggie said slowly. "It…didn't quite go as planned."

Jeremy pursed his lips. "The test subject died. Clu had the scientists figure out what went wrong and fix it." He went silent for a few nanos. "I was the second test subject."

Ally blinked at him in surprise as he continued. "The operation still didn't give him what he wanted though. It made me faster, stronger…and I had the ability to read disks through physical contact. More for combat than what Clu was targeting."

"I was a test subject after him." Maggie admitted. "I was their third try. But even I didn't have what Clu wanted." She sighed. "He wasn't satisfied with my boosted intelligence, fast healing or, like Jeremy, the disk reading ability."

Jeremy locked eyes with Ally briefly before looking at Ace. "Maggie and I were put under close observation while other Programs were being operated on. Eventually, Clu got what he was looking for so the rest of us were no longer needed."

Maggie and Jeremy shared a look. "We escaped containment together but paid a visit to the operating rooms first." Maggie said with a hint of pride in her voice. "We knocked out the scientists and in doing so, read their disks and stole the data and history of the procedure."

"By then, Clu was notified of our escape." Jeremy said. "So we had to fake deaths. We blew up the entire lab after wiping the system of all data and progress." He hesitantly added. "The explosion also…killed the other test subjects as well."

"And it disintegrated everyone's disk." Maggie said. "There was nothing left."

Ace took the opportunity to speak up. "So…technically, only you two really knew the real process and regulations of the operation?"

Jeremy nodded. "Yeah, it's all up here." He tapped his head.

"And it helped us find out why the first test subject died." Maggie said. "He had energy a few PectroCycles before the operation."

Ally caught Jeremy's eye. "So…could you shed some light on what sort of abilities the operation gave Ace and myself?"

He pursed his lips and looked at the ceiling in thought. "I believe all of the above."

"Meaning?" Ace pried.

Jeremy held up a hand to stop him. "Let me think…" He started listing off what he knew. "Increases in strength, speed, agility, intelligence, automatic healing of sorts, and disk reading abilities."

"We also recently found out how to adapt what Clu was targeting." Maggie said.

"That's right!" Jeremy said. "You guys were the first two Programs to have higher sensitivity in sight, hearing, and, you know, all the 5 senses."

"I want to know why." Ally said. "Why us? What made you want to target us to be adapted?"

Jeremy shrugged. "For your benefit. I got word of your accident in Argon City and its toll on you. I figured the procedure could make you better than you were before." He looked at Ace. "And you're an interesting Program to have worked under Tron…and Clu. I assume you've had a lot of experiences."

Ace tensed up. "Yeah," He said slowly.

"What you said to me earlier, Jeremy," Ally started. "I know what you mean when you told me all of this was in the name of science and stuff, but-"

"Ah, the future plans." Jeremy said. "That one's complicated, considering we have insiders literally everywhere. The plan is to cause chaos and blame it all on Clu. We know what he's up to but going public about it isn't going to do anything for the better. We need to make trouble and have Clu take the fall. Then we attack him directly."

"Do you have trouble forming alliances with the Resistance Movement?" Ally asked. "We have a common enemy."

Maggie stifled a laugh. "We're our own group. Your little Rebellion won't do so much as bend back Clu's little finger in the long run."

"You seem to underestimate our group's capabilities." Ace stated. "What becomes of them from your point of view if you succeed?"

"They won't make it." Jeremy said bluntly. "Clu will wipe out the rest of the ISOs and defeat your council." He leaned forward. "He can easily see through those complicated plans you've made."

Ally paled. "In fact, you could say he knows exactly where everyone's hiding. He's just waiting for the right moment to strike you down for good." He said grimly.

"How the heck do you know this?" Ace demanded.

Jeremy looked at him. "I've told Alpha this a few times before. We're everywhere."

"So you won't help us?" Ally asked Jeremy.

He looked at her. "No. We need you to help us. No matter what, Clu will find a way to wipe out that so called "imperfect race." And there's nothing anyone will be able to do about it. He won't give up."

"Unless we can defeat him before that." Ally urged. "Don't you care about the ISOs? If you're a Special like Ace and me, you can **feel** it when someone's life ends."

Jeremy shook his head. "Sorry, but I used to work under Clu. His lectures are stuck in my head and even though their deaths truly pain me, I can't see anything right about their race."

Ally glared. "How is any of this supposed to be in the name of the Users?"

Jeremy held up his hands. "Hey, just because I don't see ISOs the way you do doesn't mean I'm the same towards the Users. I really think Flynn can help us fix things up once Clu's taken care of but first things first." He eyed Ace and Ally. "I want you to join us."

"Thank you but no thank you." Ace said as politely as he could. "We already have enough problems to deal with."

"You're part of a dying cause." Maggie drawled out as if this was the most boring thing she ever dealt with. It probably was. "They won't make it."

Ally stood up. "I've heard enough. I want to leave." She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Now."

* * *

**Pretty slow, I'll admit. But next chapter will definitely be more interesting. As I've told some of you guys, I don't have a Beta reader and I just make up the details as I go. Obviously, I have the main plot down but I still somehow surprise myself. ;P  
Maggie and Jeremy were definitely last minute details and I swear, they're going to be one of the more complicated characters...I'm not even sure how I feel about them yet but I know they're not going to be like Cyrus. That's one point for...well...everyone.**

**TRON LIVES!**


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